A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Art

Art Book: Mudworks

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Today I have a rather different art book to show you.  It’s called “Mudworks: Creative Clay, Dough and Modeling Experience”.

This is a rather neat book, seriously.


It’s chockful of recipes for making all sorts of sculptures and models.
It’s divided into the following sections
1. playdough: cooked and uncooked
2. bread dough: baked and dried
3. Plaster of Paris
4. Papier-mache
5. Edible Dough Art: baked and unbaked
6. Modeling mixtures and more

Many of the recipes were unique!  Check out this one:

They also had one for making oatmeal dough and cotton dough (out of cotton balls!!!)…these ones can even be baked!

The plaster of paris section gives different ways of using plaster of paris to make sculptures (like using a balloon to shape it, or pouring it over ice cubes or adding sand to it).

SOME of the recipes made me laugh like this one:

Like really… a recipe for making mud-pies, it just made me grin.  This book has thought of so many interesting and creative ideas.

Illustrator Kathleen Kerr showed up with simple yet effective drawings to add interest to each of the pages, as well as providing visual cues for how to make some of the unique sculptures found within the pages.

Anyways, if you work with kids and need recipes and ideas for sculpting and having fun with moldable stuff, this is the book for you.  So many ideas and creative ways to keep children busy using their hands and creative imaginations.

The top of each page gives the age range it is good for as well.

Mudworks: creative clay, dough and modeling experiences
Autor: MaryAnn F. Kohl
Illustrator: Kathleen Kerr
Publisher: Bright Ring Publishing
Pages: 152
Series: Bright Ideas for Learning Centres

Where can you find it?
Amazon.com: Mudworks.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Art Book: A First Book of Canadian Art

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A First Book of Canadian Art was put together by Richard Rhodes.

It’s a rather interesting book that is not about doing art, but about seeing what Canadian artists have done. It’s a walk through history from First Peoples through to the 1990’s. 

Types of art as well as individual artists are discussed. I was pleased to find Homer Watson discussed, as I’ve been to the gallery they have set up in his honour in Kitchener.

It’s a great book full of facts and interesting tidbits. Pictures and text laid out well to help the reader understand the history of art in Canada.  The artists mentioned span the forms that art can take from photographers, painters, sculptors and more.

Geared for middle school or for a parent to read with a child, picking out key elements to share, or to at least be able to answer a child’s questions.  It’s a nice book for introducing Canadian artists.

A First Book of Canadian Art.
Richard Rhodes
Series: Wow Canada
Canadian Art Foundation
72 pages
Hardcover, oversized
Published by Owl Books

Where can you find it?
Amazon.ca:  A First Book of Canadian Art.
Amazon.com: A First Book of Canadian Art.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Art Book: StickerBomb Journal Galaxy

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Know what I was doing the other day?   Cleaning off book shelves.  Oh my!  It was amazing the books I pulled off and said “I don’t need to keep this book”.  So out it went.   A good 10 of them were space exploration books, my son is done exploring space so they headed off to the book sale.

When I brought in the mail, this little gem was in the packet from Raincoast.  I looked and thought hmm.. odd little sticker book and then I REALLY looked at it and noticed..it’s not a sticker book, it has sticker for personalization, but it’s really a journal.   How cool would this have been for my boy to use while we were studying space!!

He could have jotted down notes, drawn pictures, pasted in images and what not.  It would have been all contained in one neat looking space oriented journal.

The page quality is wonderful.  Thick without being cumbersome, and 128 pages!!!   So much room seriously!    Even if you didn’t want to use it as part of a study, it’s a great journal just for jotting down notes and what not. 

Four pages of stickers are included to personalize the cover.  That’s over 100 stickers to use to make this journal your own.   I didn’t test to see if the stickers can be removed and reapplied, so if getting it you’d need to test that out on your own. 

My thoughts:
It’s a really nice journal, geared toward children, that would be just lovely for jotting down thoughts, or using as a notebooking spot when doing a space unit study.  🙂

StickerBomb Journal: Galaxy 
Designed by SRK
Published by Laurence King
Pages: 128
Age: any
Approximately 6 x 8 inches.

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time .

Art Book: The Girl Who Drew Butterflies

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When I first got The Girl who Drew Butterflies I thought cool.. an art book!  I’ll get to see lots of pictures of butterflies and be totally amazed.   Little did I know the wonder and joy I would experience when I realized that it was not only an art book but it was also a science book.  A way to combine two loves!  It’s GREAT!!!!

Imagine you live in a time when people aren’t sure where bugs come from, and no one can really answer the questions of a curious girl child.  Maria, who helped her step-father, Jacob Marrel, with his artistry. He liked to draw still life pictures and Maria would often bring in flowers for him to draw, and found the insects that crawled on them fascinating. 

Her interest was fostered as her step-dad was also interested in the insects as he thought they made his pictures come to life, so she was sent out to gather more for him. 

Maria was so curious about where all these insects came from but no one really knew where they came from.   Perhaps from mud or old clothes?    Marel taught Maria the tools of the trade, teaching her everything he knew. But Maria’s mind was captured by the insects around her and she burned to discover the answers to her questions.

She started with silkworms. Watching everything, drawing it too.

Jotting down everything she could. Asking questions, seeking out the answers to her beloved insects.  Learning how to do this AND fulfill the role destined for her by society.

This is a fascinating book.

I learned so much about what was going in the day.  Witch hunts…seeking after women who varied from what society expected of them.  Women had to be so careful in what they did.  Not receiving recognition for the work they did, yet contributing mightily to society around them.

Gradually society shifted opinions, and just as gradually Maria became known as the caterpillar lady.

She learned, and documented how all moths and butterflies went through the same transformation.

Ah… I want to tell you all that I learned but that would spoil the book for you it would!  It’s just a neat book, really.  I so enjoyed it.   Seeing her determination to stick to her love of insects, her patience .. biding her time, watching, observing, starting over, and her stepping out with what she knew.  

She led a fascinating life and ended up drawing/painting so many pictures with plants and their insects.   Showing the world their beauty as she could best show it.

She was simply a fascinating lady, well focused on her life’s passion, and so determined to see it through.

To see all the she saw and be able to document everything… so fantastic!

Read the book, be inspired.  See art teach science something new.

The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Marian’s Art Changed Science.
Joyce Sidman
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
160 pages.
Age: 10-12 

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books
 

Where can you get it?

Amazon.ca: The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science

Amazon.com: The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science

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This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Art Book: Miniscapes – Create Your Own Terrarium

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I recently contacted my “person” at Raincoast and mentioned that my lad was into making terrariums lately so she very kindly sent me a book that she thought might be a boon to him… and it was!   Let me tell you about Miniscapes: Create your own Terrarium.  I know I know..not your typical art book, but making a terrarium is a form of art you know?   Can you put different mediums together in a way that will balance and create something beautiful?   Miniscapes helps you to gain the know-how to do this yourself.

 
 I love the logical step up in Miniscapes.  Walking the reader through what a terrarium was and how it worked.  Being walked through all the parts of a terrarium, learning why you need the different layers, the types of plants you can use and more.  The Close of Miniscapes leaves you with several projects you can complete to get your feet wet, or to at least give you ideas for creating your own.   It’s a rather neat book.

The first half of Miniscapes is devoted to teaching the reader about the various plants, and parts of a terrarium.  The different styles of glass bowls, types of rocks, plants, substrate, tools, and accessories . 

I found the text easy to read and understand.  The author was very good at explaining how everything works, making this an ideal book for a novice to terrariums, while including lots of projects to intrigue the more seasoned.

 
The Projects, more than 15 projects, each with an ingredients list, with step by step instructions for completing them.

My Thoughts:
This is a helpful little book, full of ideas and images and creations.   It’s great to look through to garner ideas for different types of terrariums, or to actually create one of them as written.  My son liked it and didn’t want me to add it our “let’s rehome it” pile so it will sticking around for a while.  🙂  (not many books make it to that status which tells you something eh?)  🙂

But it’s a great book to teach you how to make your own garden art form. 

Oh!   And check it out!   My lad made his own terrariums!!!

Miniscapes – Create your own Terrarium
Clea Cregan
Hardie Grant Books
Pages: 160
Approximately 8 x 8 inch square 
Type: Hardcover

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

Where to find it: 
Amazon.ca: Miniscapes: Create Your Own Terrarium

Amazon.com: Miniscapes: Create Your Own Terrarium

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This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Art Series: Home School In The Woods – Artist Pack

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Today I am reviewing for you an Activity-Pak rather than a regular book.  🙂   Home School in the Woods has put together the Artists Activity-Pak that the lad and I have been learning from for the past few weeks.   I’ve been sharing some of the pictures on Instagram, but I want to tell you all about it right now!  🙂   This unit is part of a larger series of Activity-Paks.

 Home School in the Woods has kept my son and I busy learning about Artists throughout history for the past several weeks.   Activity-Paks are lap books designed to be more than a lap book.  Students should be able to complete them independently (depending on their ability) along with additional activities to add to your study.

You can use the lapbook elements to add to your own study, or use the lapbook as a basis for a larger study.   Some independent research will be required as you do them.

One of the things I liked about this pack is the conversation it provoked as we went through some of the elements.  

These elements include:

  • Art Media
  • Art Movements
  • Art Exhibition
  • Paint Box Vocabulary
  • Paint like the Masters
  • Art Gallery, File Folder Game

I have to admit that I struggled with two of the elements. I found it impossible to put together The File Folder Game and the Artist Exhibition.  I tried printing them off several times but just couldn’t figure out the orientation between two separate files for the same element.   Everything I tried had it coming out incorrect so we just simply by-passed doing those elements as written, rather we talked our way through them, taking our time to examine some of the artists and the work they did.  

I am not sure what they could do to make it easier… possibly put arrows in the margins to show which way it should go or something?   It was extremely frustrating. Or make it book format with the proper orientation done already?   Just thoughts.  We didn’t miss out an anything in the long run, just didn’t do the elements as designed.

Admittedly an element was a touch fussy to make, but as the lad said “I can help you and you can help me”.  I LOVE THAT.  It’s good to have a lad help out his mom and vice versa.  It’s great to laugh and talk together. And if in the process you both learn something, it’s a good thing indeed.  🙂

One of the things I most appreciated was that html link.   That provided us with a really really easy way to find the files I needed.  It allowed us to skip around and use the elements that interested us the most at the time.  See how they the instructions are in the brown and the elements are in blue?   Makes it so easy to navigate!

We learned about different types of mediums you can use (clay, marble, acrylic etc), artists of old (Michelangelo, Santi, Rubens etc), new types of artistry we hadn’t heard about before (monoprint, pointilism etc).   So many different forms of art, and then we got a chance to try our hand at some of them.

Oh Oh!   before I forget.  There’s an A La Carte Option!

Home School in the Woods has just introduced an a-la-carte options from some of their projects.   What this means that you can grab and use one or two smaller projects to use.  These aren’t complete unit studies, but rather smaller projects to meet a need or an specific interest.  You can learn more about it here.   

Home School in the Woods
Artists Activity-Pak
Received: Ebook with Html Support, comes as PDF files in a zip file

DOWNLOAD VERSION  $18.95

CD VERSION $19.95

You may find this video helpful in understanding the differences in some of their products:

The Crew has been reviewing a large selection of materials from Home School in the Woods. Home School in the Woods has a whole variety of hands-on history projects for your students to complete.  Here is what we’ve been looking at.

Time Traveler American

  • New World Explorers
  • Colonial Life 
  • The American Revolution
  • The Early 19th Century
  • *The Civil War
  • Industrial Revolution through Great Depression
  • World War II

Activity-Paks

  • The Old Testament
  • The New Testament
  • Composers
  • Artists
  • Make-a-State Activity

Lap-Paks

  • U.S. Elections
  • 20th Century in America
  • Wonders of the World
  • Benjamin Franklin
  • Knights

Timeline Trio

To see what we all have to say about these products, click this link OR on the banner below.

http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/hands-on-history-home-school-in-the-woods-reviews/

Social Media Links

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This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time .

Art Book: Goats of Anarchy

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I have to admit, I struggled about where to put this book in my line up.   It’s not an art book per-say, but photography is a form of art and it’s a big way that Leanne Lauricella spreads the word through her instagram account about her beloved goats.

This is a book of photographs, albeit very cute ones of goats.  I grew up with goats running around.  They are characters who seem to know just how to get into trouble, or to make themselves look so cute as to get out of the trouble they found themselves in.  

The goats of anarchy are no different.

Come on.. Look at this face.  🙂 

This book is just filled with images of her goats.  🙂

I have to admit, I did need to wrestle with even posting this book though.  As a person who raises and breeds rabbits I dislike people making assumptions, or making farmers look bad, or use inflammatory language in regards to other people who raise and breed animals.   I saw all this in the text of Goats of Anarchy.  I understand that people involved in rescue tend to see the worst of people, and it’s really easy to make assumptions, or accusations, or to paint people with one paint brush.   Doesn’t mean I don’t HATE it.  “Cause I do.

That said.. I do know that there are nasty people out there. 
Not everyone cares well for their critters, and some have more ability to allow suffering that I cannot abide.   For animals caught up in that nastiness.. I am SO GLAD there are rescues out there to say “hey baby goat… let me help you out”.

So I can not whole heartedly recommend this book to you.  I don’t know if you have the ability to weed through the rhetoric found in the pages, but if you are able to ignore or wade past the “language of rescuers” to enjoy the great photography of goats being well.. the silly, creative, smart critters they can be… then it’s a fun book to look through.  🙂

The first half of the book introduces us to her goats.   Sometimes she does a group shot, and then she’ll do individual shots.  Not everyone is a goat though… into the mix are a couple of pigs, mini horse and donkey.

 She gives a snippet of information about health needs and history, and snippets. 

It was a fun little book to go through.   Some of her goats have been through a rough time and she’s given them a better place to be, and that’s a good thing.   Mind…if you go through it.. watch out for those goat smiles….they’ll make you want to get one of your own for sure!  🙂

Goats of Anarchy: A woman’s quest to save the world one goat at a time.
Leanne Lauricella
Rock Point Publishers
Pages: 144

Type: Photojournal of goats
Hardcover

Reviewed for:  Quarto Group

 
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This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time .