How do you encourage creativity?

Have you ever read about the Multiple Intelligence Theories?

I love that it smashes the theory of the old IQ tests and encourages you to see that people can be intelligent in different ways,

 after all......

everyone of us was created to be different, weren't we?

When I look at my children and their unique personalities I stand in awe of how God created them so differently.

I used to feel guilty about not doing art projects with Jenna every week.

She loves to create....... almost everyday there's some new project in the making.

Then I realised that I didn't have to teach her how to be creative, she already is.

All I had to do was expose,

provide and 

encourage!

 I may not be creative in the traditional sense of the word.......but I am a creative thinker.

Give me an organisational problem to solve and I'll do my best to find the most practical way to make it work.

So in our home creativity is not encouraged by regular art lessons by mom, and I no longer feel guilty about it!

At times it is encouraged out of a desire.....

She wanted a crown,

so she created one.

I make art and craft materials easily available to her so that when she feels inspired she can just create.

At times it starts off as creative play and then gets built on.....

a block t.v.

I make sure toys are easily accessible too. Sometimes it helps to leave toys, which are not regularly played with, in the place of favourite toys.  

At times she expresses herself creatively through dance.......

 and manages to convince her brother to dance a part in the Nutcracker Ballet with her.

I make sure there's a variety of music playing sometime during the day.

At times she gets inspired by dvd's she's watched.....

then out come the face paints and dress up clothes.

I recognise that she is a visual learner and that she also relaxes by watching dvd's.  Buying a new dvd or borrowing from friends, makes sure she has time to unwind from all that creative thinking!

At times she just has a vision inspired by recyclables and it must be created now!

After all, every princess needs a castle doesn't she?!

I store boxes etc. and supply different materials for construction.......even though it takes up so much space and can sometimes be a fleeting idea ;-)

(recycled creations is not my idea of fun, but I've let go of my need to declutter and throw away for the sake of her creative expression)

The bonus side of her creativity is that it often involves team work to create.

The castle needed some colour.

At times she just loves to be outdoors in creation.....

and that's enough to inspire a little bit of creative play.

I've tried to encourage outdoor play and left my children to entertain themselves a lot........I've never wanted to hear: what can I do now mom?

At times the books she reads (or those which are read to her) inspire her to create.

I've shared my love of books with her by having reading times and books available around our home all the time.

{Jesus baptising men in the river-she drew this while we were reading Bible stories one morning.... just something she wanted to do}

At times she gets inspired by beauty she see's around her....

and so she plans,

and then she paints....

and draws.........a bird's view of it all.

I sometimes set up our dining table for painting time while I prepare supper.....it's a peaceful activity at the end of a busy day 

We're all gifted in different ways.  

When it comes to arts and crafts I'm not going to be the first mom to offer you ideas for creative activities to do with your children.....

but I will encourage you to use your gifts to discover your child's unique abilities,

because being creative isn't just about arts and crafts!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.....

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

We are coming to the end of a beautiful season.  One which I have been so blessed to walk through.  I have so many good memories to treasure and many, many lessons have been learnt.

Saying good-bye to a time in your life is not easy.  I've needed time to process.  Time to know that we heard clearly.

And now my heart is filled with joy and peace. I know that our new path will have it's challenges, but I believe that it is one directed by the Lord.

I prayed and asked for clear guidance for He said.....


Proverbs 16 vs 3:Roll your works upon the Lord (commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and) so shall your plans be established and succeed.


And when I wrestled with what I heard I read.....

Proverbs 16 vs 9 A man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure!


And I was so thankful that I could rest in Him, trusting that He would indeed direct our steps and guide us to where He wants us to walk......

So we are stepping forward, in faith, leaning not on our own understanding but trusting Him with all our heart.  Knowing that He holds us in the palm of His hand and that He will be our Shepherd, next year we will start a new journey with Jenna.  Grade One in mainstream schooling........

A walk in the wetlands.

Last week it was my turn to lead our nature walk.  My focus has been the wetlands/vleis and rivers in our area.  I've taken you to this wetland recently with my own children, now you can come along with our Nature Club friends too!

The last time I led Nature Club it was a rainy day.  So we had to apply "rainy day procedure", where the mom who is leading for the week, has a back up plan for activities to do at home.

I had focused on the water cycle (after all it was rain that was causing us to be indoors).

We did a few simple experiments to learn about the water cycle.  We also made our very simple rain gauge that week which we have been using to measure the very little rain fall we've been having this winter!

My aims when I go on a nature walk with my children are:

• to notice any changes since our last visit to the area
• point out any new nature finds like flowers that are blooming, birds, insects and animals ( I don't always know their names so this is where the other moms and field guides come in handy)
• remind them of old "friends" they made on previous visits (this gives me a chance to see if they are remembering any nature finds we had previously)
• sometimes I choose one focus point or mini-lesson to teach before hand-but I like to keep these as short as possible and as relevant to the kids as I can.  
• and most importantly: run around, play, jump and squeal in delight to be outdoors!

Because we were visiting the wetland and I had previously talked about the water cycle I wanted to continue on the same theme of water and how it always travels down hill till it arrives at the lowest possible point, the sea, dam or wetland.

We learnt that where the water gathers together like this it is called a pan.

And then we spent some time playing at the man made overflow pipes which helped us to discover that the water was moving out of this pan and into the next.

  

We discussed what they saw on top of the water and what they thought they would find underneath the surface?

Then they had fun filling bags with water to see what colour the water was.

We chatted about what could make the water this colour? 

I just love to hear their ideas.  

(Rocks, sand, dirty mountain water and algae!)

I love seeing how their little brains tick over and just how much of the world around them they already understand.

We smelt, felt and discussed the sounds water makes-a lovely opportunity to extend vocabulary while learning through the five senses.  Finally we chatted about why it wouldn't be a good idea to taste it!

And no, it wasn't because smelly feet were in it ;-)

Sadly, these waters can get a little polluted with litter and animals and birds use it for bathing, amongst other things.

And then we went on to explore some more......

just where does all this water go to in the end?

We entered into territory previously unexplored and discovered these.....

sand dunes!  

What fun!!!  It was time for the run, jump and squeal with delight part of our nature walk.  

Lessons over, or rather lessons postponed till next time ;-)

 A quick pose beside the waters before heading on back to our picnic spot.

As we were discussing that water is always moving downhill I had asked the moms to bring corks with so that we could make very simple cork boats.

Initially when we arrived back at our picnic spot I thought that I wouldn't disturb the playful games the children had started.....

but soon someone asked for the corks and instead of me teaching them how to make boats it became a combined effort of ideas.

Let's cut it in half!

What will we use for a sail?

There are no more toothpicks what can we use now? Thorns!

These kids are creative I tell you!

Watching them float down the river brought great delight to all!
Isn't she a cutie pie?!?

And to end it all off we read a story about the journey of a brook.

This book is one from the science reader series I mentioned before.  Natural science in a story form.

A morning filled with fun, relaxed learning and friends-just the way we like it!

And when they got home what did they do?

Created their own rivers of course, down the gentle slope of our garden.

I think she understood the concept.
Nothing teaches them better than nature and living books!

This post features on the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers where South African home schoolers share experiences, ideas, philosophies and much more.  You can join the carnival too by heading to the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers sign up page.   In the meantime, head to SACH for this week's carnival.  We hope you enjoy the carnival as much as we have!

In pursuit of penguins.......

Three Wednesday's ago ( my how time flies!) I was introduced to a whole new walk, it's a popular place for tourists but I'd never been there before....I'm so glad we've found it now, because we'll definitely be going back!

The walk starts at either Seaforth Beach or Boulders Beach just past Simon's Town, depending on your starting point.

(It's well sign posted, but I'm sorry I can't recall the name of the walk today-it has been three weeks you know! ;-)

It is a nicely sheltered walk, so even on a windy day if you're desperately needing to get the kids out to burn up some energy, I think it is worth the drive!

Our mommy-guide for the day was focusing on penguins-the main reason the tourists flock here!

Very soon after starting on the pathway we spotted our first penguins!

It is breeding season at the moment. Boulders Beach is home to a large penguin colony so there has been  much care taken to protect these penguins and their chicks.  Below you can see the numbered containers which they have placed there for the penguins to use for nesting.

But some of them still prefer to find their own little hidey-holes.

Laying on the eggs.

When we left the Seaforth parking lot it was windy and cold-but we were well protected between the shelter of the trees. The whole path is made of wooden slats, easy for moms with prams and busy bodies needing to run around to use up their boundless energy supply!

Some chicks had obviously hatched a while back as they are so big already, but still covered in downy feathers.

Between the gaps in the trees you get a glimpse every now and then of Boulders Beach.  A beautiful, practically semi-private beach.  I say this, because it is quite pricey to go as a family, as this is one of the few beaches in South Africa which you have to pay to enter.  Yet another reason why I 'must' get that Wildcard! (a card which gives you great discounts into various scenic spots in Cape Town). 

We didn't just find penguins, it's caterpillar season on our side of the world......all sorts of hairy caterpillars are being found, named and some are even finding there way onto our nature table at home  too!

Every rock just needs to be climbed!

Even by the smallest of us.....

And if you're just too small to climb you can find a penguin!

After a lovely walk, where we spotted loads of penguins, we headed back to Seaforth Beach to chat about the different penguin types we have in our beautiful world and....

To create a penguin of our own.  (They're all busy painting milk bottle penguins here, but I was so busy helping I didn't manage to get a photo of the end product!)

And after all of that learning there must also be time for a little fun in the sun, sea and sand!

Yes, it is supposed to be Winter here, but while the sun shines we make the most of heading out into nature to learn with our friends.

This post features on the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers where South African home schoolers share experiences, ideas, philosophies and much more.  You can join the carnival too by heading to the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers sign up page.   In the meantime, head to SACH Carnival #2 - Outings for this week's carnival.  We hope you enjoy the carnival as much as we have!

I can officially call them kids!

We're taking advantage of the great weather we're having here and heading for the mountains at every opportunity!

This was the view from our latest hike.

Can you see that little dark car parked in the shade under the trees?

That's ours!  

Yes, we really climbed to the very top of the mountain-well almost!

This is the Steenberg Plateau Hike. 

We don't use a hiking book as our guide-we follow our noses and choose hikes which we've passed by when driving on the roads in our area. 

When we started the hike my first thought was: "Perhaps we should be consulting a hiker's guide! This route looks a little too challenging for our little hikers!"

But they proved me wrong!

 We applied old lessons we've learnt about hiking with children and learnt a lot of new tricks too.....

#1. Share your love for God's creativity:

There were new Proteas to admire.

#2.  Enjoy the spectacular views.

#3. Make up names for rock features: God's Dice

#4. Problem solve survival skills:
It's hot mommy!
What can we do, there's not much shade?
Snuggle up to low lying bushes.

#5. Renew relationships with old friends seen on previous hikes: Ericas.

#6. And when the going gets tough and the top just never seems to come-

the beach (way down there) becomes the goal, the reward for perseverance.

#7. Dad also tried distraction: Just look at that Kangaroo rock!

#8. And encouragement: Wow, we're so high now you can see Table Mountain peaking over the top of this mountain!

#9. And Mom (who was taking strain too), tried to distract dad from walking up so fast by getting him to take photos of all (read any!) beautiful flowers.

And eventually he was convinced to stop when his, "It's just over the next hill" was greeted with......

another hill?
 No, mountain!!!!

So we sat in the shade of the only rock we could find and refreshed ourselves.

It had taken an hour and a half to reach this point with two little hikers who had clambered over every rock they could find-even though mom kept saying:
 conserve your energy, (#10) find the easiest route!

Yes, there had been a little complaining about the heat.....

but never the difficulty of the climb.

So they can officially be called mountain goats (kids).

And when we turned around to head back home.....

I hobbled down the mountain side on wobbly legs,

while they merrily hopped from rock to rock!

Oh, to be young again!
(from bottom to top 1hour 30 min......from top to bottom 30 min!)

On shaky legs-I'm not kidding you, they're still sore today!-I propped myself against the sign at the start/end of the trail and asked Ray to take a picture from the bottom up so that I could get a perspective on just how high we'd hiked.

But this doesn't really give you a clear picture of where we got to.......

so when he was coming home from work on Monday he stopped and took this photo on the highway:

Do you see the ridge in the middle?
We hiked from the start of that to where the two points meet!
Pretty impressive hey?!

And I learnt my final hiking lesson for the day:

#11. Always consulting a guide limits spontaneity and the opportunity to learn valuable life lessons along the way.

And that folks, is your home schooling lesson for today!