MP3 sends out these nice little emails that revolve around a theme. I take a look and think of how I can implement this with what I am currently doing. I try not to do something extra because I believe that they already do quite a bit. If I can't fit it into what we are doing, I send in some of their current work. I use my scanner for all of this. This month is based on Reading. Last week it was about learning to read and this week is comprehension. In history we are studying the beginning of the war for independence which leads us to Paul Revere and his midnight ride. One of the things we had to do was read the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Instead of the intended project of writing a dialog between the child and Paul Revere I decided to use the comprehension idea. I've been wanting also to use watercolors. We also study a lot of art history when we study history. Those two just go hand in hand. But instead of looking at art, I thought it would be fun to make our own. So we read out loud the poem and the boys and I picked a stanza we each wanted to illustrate. We drew an outline yesterday and today we worked through a watercolor tutorial shown in the Heywood meadow website. Then we got to work on our masterpieces.

My example for the boys.

Job's masterpiece. "If you look closely you can see Paul Revere's Hat," he says.

Isaac's illustration. There is a little resistance work with the green grass and the blue sky.

Lona didn't create an illustration of the story because she was busy with the Little Engine that Could, which is also illustrated in watercolor. She painted engine parts and glued then onto a block of wood. Very fun. She did however learn some watercolor techniques.

Lona sample. Moving from top to bottom clockwise. Painting a dark wet color over a lighter wet color, erasing color using water or a crumbled paper towel, water spots on a dried color, and crayon resists.

I really like how this turned out and it was a little more fun than writing a dialog. We will definitely do this again. We have a lot more to learn about the American Revolution.