Art meets Shop

Here is where two things in the curriculum combine. B finally framed (shop part) his mosaic (art part). He made the frame out of molding and had to use his skill with a miter box to get the corners just right. His finished work is hanging in the den so we can enjoy it daily. Great work!

Early Chirstmas Influence

We got a little music in our curriculum today. Courtesy of gramps. He bought us tickets to the Michigan/Ohio CMI Concert Choir "Christmas in Color." We went to the Brighton Center for Performing Arts. It's a nice venue! The concert was LONG - 2 1/2 hrs long. The first half was very recognizable Christmas music with a little twist. Which it was nice to not hear the same old, same old. The choir was HUGE! At the beginning it was a little rough, but then things smoothed out. The second half was a lot about the true meaning of Christmas - so we got our religious ed lesson in too. Kind of a lot of preaching and praying for us, but opened the door for some discussion on the way home. You know, trying to provided a well rounded education for B comes in many forms.
If the concert was not enough to put us in the 'mood' for the upcoming holidays - the Michigan weather certainly would. Yes, we got measurable, packable snow today. YUCK, says the person who has to shovel. It was beautiful on the trees, but that's about the only good thing I can say about it. It made driving from the concert a hassle - since Michigan drivers seem to forget, every year, how to drive in this stuff. It was a slow go coming home!

Once home, B played outside with the dog. He was sledding on the driveway and throwing snowballs with the neighbors. Saturn is less than thrilled (he kind of feels about the snow like I do).

Measure Twice, Cut Once

After three Sunday mornings in the shop - the completed shelf project is DONE. This is counter balanced - so will only stand against the wall. But once against the wall it is amazing how strudy it is. Very cool project!

Counter sinking skills are much improved!

Project Complete

On Thursday, when B made this bud vase I said it needed to be finished. Well.....it's finished. Looks perfect, if you ask me :-)

Failure to Thrive

In every project that B tackles, there comes learning that he did not expect. His current litter of mice have all met the definition of "failure to thrive." The mother has abandoned the litter. As of this morning, 9 of the 12 pups have died. We do not know for sure the reason. At this point we are assuming because the pups nostrils never developed, therefore making it impossible for them to nurse and breath at the same time. Without nursing they could not grow, and without nursing we think the mother abandoned them. Another possibility is, most litters are only 6-8 pups, and this litter was unusually large at 12. It is possible that the mother can just not produce enough milk to sustain the babies, and once they started to die she abandoned the entire litter. Lastly we have considered the temperatures - which dropped into the 30s yesterday. But B rigged up a light on the cage to warm the air and pups have continued to die. B is trying to dropper feed the last 3 pups, in hopes that he can get them to feed and grow. Yes, he has moved them into the house for what he termed as "needing constant supervision."
Economically, since B is raising these mice for profit. This has been a good lesson in, don't always count your chickens before they hatch. Thankfully he doesn't have a customer waiting for this litter. He understands now that sometimes there will be profit lost to things that are out of his control. And that at some point he needs to start freezing the 'pinkies' (newborns). Had he done that with this litter, he would have 12 pinkies to sell vs. struggling to get 3 pups to the weaned stage. Yes, in very project there is learning!

Riding River Again

After what seems like forever, B is back to riding River again!!! (and as you will see below, pretty happy about it too). River has been moved to a new stable. According to B, it is a 5 star hotel for horses! Depending on the weather, they either work outside or in the indoor arena. For those of you just joining us - River is a half percheron/half quarter horse. He stands over 16 hands tall. And is a big scaredy cat - which means he is very cautious and easily distracted. When B first started to ride, he rode both western and english. Now he prefers bareback and with no bit/briddle. It scares me to see him up there with no tack, but B is comfortable in every aspect of handling this horse.

Practicing 'bending' or a controlled stop.

Thursday's Creations

Tonight the new technique was learning to make vessels from glass tubing. This is what B came home with for my dining room table (wait till you see the completed ensemble tomorrow). Oh, and for the person who suggested art school - he just rolled his eyes and said, "I'd rather be a marine biologist." I think this is just going to be a hobby, when he's not floating in the ocean ;-)
The Glass Pavillion (part of the Toledo Museum of Art) at night. The brightly lit rectangular window to the right is the torch studio where B works. The other windows (kind of centered) are where one of the furnace and glass blowing studio areas. And the far windows to the left are the lobby and gift shop.

6 days - Fur

At 6 days old, you can see that the fur is starting to come in. The ears are more pronounced. Nails are starting to grown. And they move around on their own, although it is much like you see a baby swing its arms and legs - without much control.

Lampworking Projects

On Thursday night B goes to the Toledo Glass Pavillion to play with a torch. Sounds funny doesn't it? But he is continuing to hone his skills in lampworking. So far this semester he has learned many new techniques, including working with a different kind of glass - Borosilicate glass, which is a hard glass (B's preferred media at this point). Right now he is learning to make icicles, which come home in many sizes and will hang beautifully on our Christmas tree. He has also learned to work with not only rods (which is how he started learning), but also has been working with tubes. Plus he's made some wonderful presents for family and friends. And all of this is before taking a special techniques workshop that will just focus on ornaments, which happens the first week of December.

first step, making the candy cane - second step (still to be learned) sand blasting

and naturally, for B, no creation session is complete if it doesn't involve a fish

or a variety of fish

Pups Day 3 and Day 4

Husbandry continues.....part of today was spent on the animals and part of the day was spent on formulating the ads for sales. Also, it's the first time B will have his own email to conduct 'business transactions.' This kind of project does require a lot of reading, the homeschool teacher/mom celebrates!!! Hint, hint - if you have a child who is reading resistent - get him/her interested in a project and see if their motivation changes.
4 day old pup (photos above and below)

3 day old pup (photos below)pups are not born with whiskers, they grow quickly because their eyes are undeveloped, you can just see the ears starting to form
by day 3 the pups weigh more than a penny

Mice Husbandry Project

B has decided to combine his love of animals with becoming an entrepreneur. He has started a mice breeding business for feeder mice. Below is the set up in the garage. The big tank on the left is where the pregnant female is housed. The stack of tanks on the right is where, once able to be weaned the young are separated by gender (yes, he is doing controlled breeding). He has already had one litter and the details of his second litter are below.

nesting area for the mother

pregnant mother, 2 days before giving birth - gestation period is 19-21 days

10/30 litter of 12 pups (average litter is 6-8 pups)

within 12 hours of birth, Bennett weighs them - as you can see they weigh less than a penny

2nd day - still less than a penny

2 days old, just longer than a penny

Tubing Fun

What fun would summer be without time on the water?! Today, it was tubing fun. Ready? Set, Go!

No so tricky :)

shishi-odoshi

What exactly is a shishi-odoshi? Otherwise known as a deer scare? It is a Japanese ornament designed to keep animals away from rice paddies ad other cultivated areas. Also called a water hammer, a deer scare's simiple form and operation make it a popular water garden feature. B made one of his own out of bamboo. We aren't sure it will scare the deer, but it sure does look and work nice. Enjoy!

Mosaic Creation

B has spent the past 3 saturday mornings learned another art form using glass. He has learned how to do glass mosaic. It should be no surprise that his first project was a koi!!
The process included picking a design (or drawing, but B took one off the computer). Chosing glass colors and cutting the pieces of glass, using a handheld glass cutting wheel. Second week the glass pieces were glued onto a piece of wood. It has to be a substantial backing in order to hold the weight of the project and keep everything secure. The last week the grout is added. The piece than dries for 24 hours and is cleaned. Finished! We now need to figure out how and where we are going to hang it.

Pond Inhabitants Move In

B started to populate his pond today. His first two residents (if you don't count the tester goldfish) are a pair of butterfly koi. Yes, they are in there. One is orange and the other a silverish/white. You float the bag on the water to get the temps about the same before releasing the fish.
Video of the big release.

Pond Project!

B's semester project was a written manual about constructing a backyard pond. And like many homeschoolers, a project wouldn't be complete without some kind of hands-on activity! Real world lessons is what we believe in! This is the progress of B's actual building of a backyard pond (at the lake).

First he had to lay out and design the pond (no photos). Then he had to get approval from grandma (not a hard thing when you are the apple of her eye). Then B started gathering supplies and dug the holes (no photos, forgot the camera when he went out with gramps). Below is where the photo essay part of the project began. Enjoy!

Excavation. The front (to left hole is the main pond, the upper/back two holes are the waterfall steps.
Liner goes in.
Water starts to go in to start holding liner in place. This makes it easier to manipulate the liner and get it positioned correctly with as few wrinkles as possible.
Filling, it takes awhile and the water is cold. But the sun is HOT and it's almost 90 degrees.
As you can see, B really "gets into" his projects. Filling and final liner manipulation.
Skimming out debris (which could be an endless task, but you can't tell the designer that part).

Full of water and sandstone begins being laid.
Trench digging for electricity for pump/filter.
Filter
Filter prep with grandma's supervision.

As the project continues to take shape and reaches completion, and progresses - I will continue to keep you up to date. This week there will be water testing and test fish placed in the pond (feeder goldfish). Then the bullfrog tadpoles (which are in a tank in the garage) will find their new home. Last residents - koi. Oh, needless to say, B got an "A" on this semester project!