'I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.' This beautiful quote is from Michelangelo and it inspires me endlessly. It reminds me of the potential that exists for creating wonderful, new things if we nourish our imaginations. I derive enormous pleasure from seeing the world through the eyes of my children and by looking at the small things with them like the eyes in trees, delicate elf trails in the grass or at swooping bottle-top spaceships. By encouraging my children to explore their imaginations I hope that they will grow up with the ability to think creatively because I believe that ability will serve them very well in the future.
This week Tristan is learning about space. The topic has been inspired by the weekly book challenge he is involved with as the chosen book this week is 'How To Catch a Star' by Oliver Jeffers. I decided that the best way to ignite his curiosity was to leave a little starry surprise for him last night. I made several shiny stars which I then taped to his leaf canopy whilst he was sleeping. This morning he came dashing in to our room excitedly shouting about the new arrivals. He is utterly convinced that magic is to blame for their appearance which is so delightful.
Last night I compiled a small workbook for him to get on with this week. I found a few bits and pieces from the internet and the rest I worked up quickly on the laptop. My plan was to begin working through this today using a selection of non fiction books to support the subject.
His imagination had other plans. He spent the day pondering what it would be like to be a star after a comment he made at breakfast time. 'I've never seen a star fall down' he muttered rather whimsically. Well that was it, he fell down, made star noises ( strangely similar to spaceship sounds) and shot about the house like an earthbound star. We did lots of things which would seem odd to a fallen star like eating lunch, making paper money and walking to the library. It was a magical afternoon which ended with my little star having a dip in the bath because he wondered - 'what would a star bath be like?' It looked like this:
We then had a star and light show in his bedroom in order that the fallen star might find his way back to the night sky.
We looked at the constellations using Theo's planetarium.
Tristan's day was spent in an imaginative way and it was wonderful. We will have a think about the realities of space tomorrow ; today role playing at being a star was enough.
Theo has done many lovely things too. His concert went very well last week, we were very, very proud of him.
He has been building a model of the Ziggurat at Ur as he begins to find out about ancient Sumaria. If we stuck to the text book we would be through this subject rather quickly but we won't be doing that. This is a hugely important an exciting historical time period for which we have many interesting things to discover, make and do. The ziggurat is only the beginning. The time machine has undergone maintenance (something to do with the singularity in the core) and is primed ready for adventure.
He has worked through lots of maths exercises and 'Division Explorer' puzzles. He has completed another chapter of his English text book without any problems. I suspect it is a little too easy for him but time is not our enemy and I would rather ensure that he understands all the basics before moving on. There is no rush.
Science is something which we cover daily now since his enjoyment of the subject has become evident. We have a super book from Usbourne called 'The Science Encyclopaedia' which is absolutely brilliant, he loves it.
He has discovered the world of computers and has been learning HTML with his dad. Today he learnt how to use 'InDesign' by Adobe and spent the morning working up some articles about dinosaurs. He grasped the basics quickly and surprised Paul with some of the great layouts he managed to do independently.
They are both so excited all the time and this excitement is extremely contagious. I can't wait to find out more about everything with them tomorrow. Tristan will be amazed when he finds out about stars tomorrow especially if we end the day with a peep at the sky. Theo wants to paint tomorrow afternoon having told me tonight about an image of a silhouetted man against a grey, cloudy sky which he has imagined. I am incredibly curious to see what the result will be and I hope that I can show you tomorrow night.
Don't save dreaming for night time alone.
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