Thursday, September 9, 2010

Friday Art

We are studying world history this year.  Daisy and Pepper are doing Mystery of History and Banana Boy is doing Sonlight's Core 1.

Along with Core 1, I have added a craft/art package called Hands-On History for Core 1 from Handle on the Arts.  The first week's project was to do a cave painting.  The curriculum came with a printable art print of a cave painting with which you do a mini art-study.  We talked about the animals we saw in the painting and some of the elements the artist used when making the painting.

Then we got to make our own cave paintings!
Banana Boy and Pepper are here in the cave.  The wall is not very smooth, nor is it even. It slopes downward and has some big bumps. They brought along a hide to sit on and two torches so they could see.


Pepper's painting

Banana Boy's painting

One of the wonderful things about Mystery of History is how it ties Bible history in with world history so you get the whole picture.  We've been reading about Jubal and Tubal-Cain.  Their story illustrates that early man was not just a grunting caveman, but and intelligent being who lived in a civilization with the leisure time for music and the skills and wisdom for metal-work.
So while we study cave art, we don't by any means believe that all early people lived in caves.  Certainly, some of them did.  This project at least gave us an appreciation for how uncomfortable it is to draw in a cave in the dark!  Early man was a determined guy!