Art Class with the Stebbing's

I've been spending the last four months coordinating a three day art class for the local homeschool community. Mr. Stebbing and his wife, from How Great Thou Art, traveled to Maine to teach at the class.

This was the second one in a series of three they were teaching while in our great state. It was wonderful to have them here investing time in our children. If you ever have the chance to take one of their classes, I highly recommend it. While it is fast paced, they are so encouraging to everyone - parents and students alike, that I simply think everyone should take a class if possible.

I was actually able to participate in the class thanks to the Stebbings. I hadn't planned to, but was invited to sit and enjoy myself by the Stebbings. While I'm certainly no great artist, it was enjoyable to sit and see that I do have a bit more ability than just drawing stick figures. 

Mr. Stebbing seats the children according to age and height on the tables. My youngest son, age 9, was about five seats away and began to struggle with the paint mixing and initial assignment. He had a small meltdown and we left to have a pep talk. 

After we came back, Mr. Stebbing noticed and took Jack in hand. He moved him from the side where he was right up front next to where he sits. He deemed him the "Most Improved Student of the Day" by the end. Here was Jack's first effort:

I know it's hard to see, but he's holding up Jack's paint card. The squares are where they paint their mixed colors and then they paint the apple and tree. 

Here is Jack's card after sitting with Mr. Stebbing and having only about 10 minutes of one-on-one instruction. It was a vast improvement, his confidence soared, and by the end of ten days, he gave the class a "100" on a 1-10 scale. ::grin::

My middle son after completing his paint card.

What a change in attitude from 20 minutes prior!

It was definitely an intense three days for all of us. The class was hosted at where we used to attend church prior to our move. We ended up commuting each day which meant early risings and only one of us is a morning person. I mentioned that the class was fast paced so it also requires a lot of mental acuity. One must really focus and pay attention in order to glean all the knowledge as well as simply keep up!

By the third day, the skills were really showing.  As Mr. Stebbing said time and again, "Life is a discipline." He made the best come out in these children. It was truly amazing how even the youngest (age five) kept up and did well in this class. We had a few adults even join in for all the drawing and painting!

And a rare sighting on my blog....a photo of me. The Stebbing's were kind enough to recognize all the hard work that goes in to hosting one of these classes. It was appreciated.

Thank you once more Mr. & Mrs. Stebbing! I look forward to hosting you again next year! 

{Review} The Confession

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.  I am disclosing this in according with the FTC's 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. 

{Review}

One of the first Amish themed books I ever read was The Shunning by Beverly Lewis quickly followed by The Confession. Over a year ago I reviewed the movie version of The Shunning and I was just able to do the same for The Confession.

Just like the books, The Confession picks up where The Shunning leaves off. 

Synopsis:

Raised by an Amish family, Katie Lapp (Katie Leclerc, TV's "Switched at Birth") always felt the call of another life. Now, her quest to find her birth-mother, Laura Mayfield-Bennett (Sherry Stringfield, TV's "ER"), has drawn her into world of the "Englishers." Along the way, two very different men try to help her overcome a devious scheme to steal her rightful inheritance. Business-minded but kind-hearted Justin Wirth (Michael Rupnow) reaches out to discover Katie's hidden secrets, while her childhood companion Daniel Fisher (Cameron Deane Stewart) sacrifices his own happiness for her future. Katie's heart is divided between two worlds as love reveals the truth in the moving saga based on the hit novel from New York Times bestselling author Beverly Lewis.

I remember watching Sherry Stringfield on ER and I really enjoy her in this role as well. I love how the story line continues from one movie to the other. I'm sure when the next one comes out, I'll have a mini-marathon and watch them all back to back. 

Overall I really enjoyed this movie. It releases to DVD on June 11th so be sure to pick up your own copy then.

Summer Vacation and Field Trips

It's already shaping up to be a pretty busy summer over here at the Berry Patch. We have some vacation time planned plus I'm hoping to add in lots of field trips to add to our required Maine studies that we need to do for our home education program.

My hubby & I will be celebrating 20 years of marital bliss and we're ditching the kiddos for a whole seven days and heading north to Canada. I can't wait. The only time we've ever taken a similar vacation is when my hubby had a high school friend getting married in England. We took 10 days and headed over and it was fantastic. We only had one kiddo then.

Shortly after we return from that, I'm heading out sans family and with two good friends to SoulFest. It's a four day Christian musical festival. The bands start playing at 10am and go until after midnight. This year's line up includes Chris Tomlin - one of my absolute favorites.

In August I'm taking the two younger boys and my mother-in-law to Peak's Island. We're bringing our bikes along and plan to take a slow tour of the island. I think we are all really looking forward to that.

Then at the end of August I'll be taking the boys and heading south. Our first stop will be at Old Sturbridge Village. I think I went as a young child, but it's obviously been quite a few years and my boys have never been. We're going there with both my mother-in-law and her sister-in-law and her children. Then my boys & I will continue south to my aunt's home. We'll base there and take day trips into Boston. I'm planning to walk the Freedom Trail one day and most likely head to the New England Aquarium another. In between we'll add beach days.

Then, as I can fit them in, I'm hoping to add in local (as in we'll stay in the state) field trips. Some of the spots I've been looking at heading to are:

• Acadia National Park - amazingly I've lived in Maine my entire life and have only been here twice. The first time was when I was very pregnant with son #1. We took a family trip there to the beach. The other time was after my second son was born and I rode the Tour de Cure for the first time. My boys have never been. Some Mainer I am.....
• Abbe Museum - a museum about the Wabnaki Nation. Beginning in mid-August through the beginning of September they will be building a birch bark canoe. I thought that sounded neat to check out.
• Montpelier, The Henry Knox Museum in Thomaston. 
• Fort Knox - always a fun place to visit. 
• Blaine House/State House - we've been to the State House but not the Blaine House. It's probably time for that trip.
• Old Fort Western - we've done classes here before and they are always fantastic. We've only done a few so there are more to go to!
• Seashore Trolley Museum - this is the one place my middle son requested to visit. We've ridden the Tour de Cure together the last two years and this is a rest stop on the route. He wants a chance to check it out.
• Old York - this looks pretty cool. Various historical buildings to check out. 
• Willowbrook in Newfield - we went here once ages ago - okay four or five years ago. It's a great turn of the century village.

Yes, lots of historical spots on the list, but we'll also be doing some atypical field trips. I'd like to take the boys to the blueberry barrens to rake blueberries. We've done it in the past but it's been awhile. My youngest, who is now nine, was only two at the time. Beaches - lots of beaches. Lighthouses top the list as well. I'm planning to fit in enough fun so that my boys don't groan at learning during the summer. 

Ocean Time

After our stop at the elephant sanctuary we headed to a nearby park for lunch. The kids had a great time playing and running off some steam. We had some extra time so my boys & I headed to the ocean.

We only had about thirty minutes so we headed out on the breakwater. This is a really cool place. It's the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse. The breakwater is almost a mile long so we weren't able to walk all the way out. My boys haven't ever done that so we'll be back at some point so they can. I've been out to the lighthouse and it's a neat lighthouse. There weren't a lot of folks out here today so we pretty much had it to ourselves.

I wanted to spend some time on the sand as well so we only walked for a few minutes on the breakwater. We hit the beach and started looking for neat shells, rocks, and sea glass. We found quite the cache of sea glass and all the boys brought home some.

My silly guys......

On the breakwater

Along the path to the breakwater

Being silly

Next stop....Puffin Center.....

Elephants (in Maine no less)

In a little sleepy village in the southern part of Maine is a top-notch elephant sanctuary. It's only been open since October and it is now the home of two retired circus elephants. Hope Elephants is a very neat facility.

Meet Rosie and Opal

The barn is state of the art. It has a dirt floor which is harder to clean but easier on the elephants. It even has a crane so if one of them goes down, they can be easily lifted. I was surprised to learn that most facilities do not have something like that.

Rosie & Opal have spent most of their lives in the circus. One of the gentleman who started Hope Elephants did what most kids dream of doing - he ran away to the circus and became a juggler. However, he also learned to work with the elephants and began working with Rosie and Opal when they were just calves. He left the circus and became a vet and never forgot about Rosie & Opal. 

We are standing in the barn looking out in to the pen.

Our visit there was so much fun. The elephants are getting on in years - they are in their early 40's - and just like many of us, they have some problems getting around. This facility is working with them to keep them limber. Elephant physical therapy if you will....

 

It was also very educational. 

My middle son is holding an elephant molar. It was about 15 pounds!

This was probably one of our favorite field trips to date. And it was just the start of a long day filled with educational opportunities!