Book Week Pt 1: The FINAL Book of Months post

OK, so it is technically a school week. But mentally I'm finishing Spring Break!  So in our house we are having a relaxing week, with a theme: Book Week. 

The first part of Book Week is trying to finish up our Book of Months projects. Each of my girls is making one. The books may end up in the heirloom category--certainly for the amount of time the girls are spending on each highly detailed page of illustration!  Even though we started this project about 16 months ago, the girls are FAR from being done. I'd say they are only 1/3 of the way through their illustrations, with even less of the writing done.  This is with the project getting at least 30 minutes of work almost every school week since!  I am so glad my girls are engaging with the project so fully, and that they are making such meaningful illustrations--but I refuse to let the project go on another year!  Esp. because they have grown as people and artists over the course of the time we have worked on the project, so that they have started being dissatisfied with the drawings they made earlier and have then discarded them and started over.  A fine artistic choice, but one that could well lead to this becoming a perpetual book project!  So, forcing my children to labor over their drawings for hours at a time is the first goal of Book Week.

(Perhaps it is appropriate that we just finished learning about illuminated manuscripts and the monks that made them--the children can at least be thankful they have a warm room to work in, they don't have to grind up their own coloring agents, and they are allowed to speak while working. Heck, they can even suck on some Easter candy while they work. Whatever will keep them happily working on it!)

I hope those of you who are also working on a Book of Months project will have success motivating your kiddos to complete it in time!  Don't forget--if they have it finished by next Monday they can come show it off at our Old School Monday gathering!  That might be helpful incentive for some of you. : )

Originally I said I would provide materials for those who wanted to have a "book binding" party on Monday. But Shelley was the only one interested--and Shelley, you are WAY more crafty than I am (judging by what I've seen on facebook of your first year homeschooling ; ) so I will not plan on us "binding" as a group--instead, I'll just tell you how we are doing ours, and then you can run with that idea or do whatever else you think suits your project.

There's basically one super easy way I have been putting together books for our Vintage Homeschool projects:

--go to an arts supply store like Palace Arts and look at their selection of art paper pads (the various kinds intended for different mediums, with different weights and textures).  Choose the paper texture and weight that you like, keeping in mind a heavier paper will make a sturdier back page to glue your child's artwork onto.

--Affix the artwork onto the pages as you and your child see fit. *Just be sure to leave a good left-hand margin for the binding.

--Use a heavy-duty hole punch to make holes in each page.  You can make as few or many as you like (or have hand-strength for). If you want a lot of holes, then you could make a pretty "lace-up" or "sewn" binding with yarn or ribbon.  If your finished book pages will be vertical, I would recommend at least four connection spots.  If the finished book pages will be read horizontals, three or even two holes might suffice, depending upon where they are placed.

--You can use metal clips from Palace to hold the book pages together, as we have done in the past for our group book projects--this will make a very loose book, great for holding open on a lap.  Or you can use ribbon or yarn and just tie bows--just don't tie them too tightly or the book pages will have difficulty turning easily.

There you have it!  

Finally, you have two ways to get your book to the Author's Fair:

--Give it to me on Monday at our gathering

--Take it to the Author's Fair and deliver to the Ocean Grove Table (usually to the right of the center fountain, if you were coming in the main front mall doors).

I can't wait to see what your kids contribute to the Author's Fair, either one of our group projects or something they have done on their own!

The Author's Fair 2014

The Old School Mondays kids have a long standing tradition of collaborative book writing--and the books we have made together and presented at the annual Author's Fair have been some of my kids' favorite projects!

This year we have two book projects going on, for anyone who would like to jump in and participate:  The Book of Months, and the "What Is It?" Book of Nature Riddles.  It is not too late for you and your kids to do either or both!

The Book of Months features your family traditions and rhythms over the course of one year. All you need is one illustration and one page of description for each month. As always, you modify the project as needed to fit your child's abilities, so there can be as much or as little writing and parental involvement as necessary.  Click on this link to read all the details for this project.

The Book of Nature Riddles is one page front and back; the front presents the riddle, and the back has the illustration and words that reveal the answer.  Click here to read all the details for this project. This project involves more parental guidance up front--but the process can be fun, and once they get the hang of it they might very well want to keep writing more!

(I recommend when you click on each project link that you read the posts from oldest to newest, so you can follow the logical progression more easily.)

If you would like to participate in the Book of Months, just jump on in to the fun!  All the info you need to make it happen is already up on the blog, except for the details about how to bind it, but that will come. You have more than 3 weeks for the project, and unless your children are uber-detailed and slightly obsessive illustrators (like mine are), that is plenty of time.  You are invited to bring your completed books to our April 28 Old School Monday gathering for show & tell!

If you would like to participate in the Book of Nature Riddles, please RSVP in the comments below, and I will then plan on us having a "book binding" activity for our April 28 Old School Monday (the Monday before the Author's Fair).  (I can also plan book binding for the Book of Months, if that is helpful--RSVP for that if you desire.)

Questions? Please ask them in the comments below so all may benefit from the discussion.

The Author's Fair wrap-up

Well, you could hear the crickets chirping in here after my last post about the Author's Fair!

I understand.  It was a busy Spring for most of us, and many of you intended to participate but then when the time came to do it you felt like you could not do one more thing.  I get that--I felt that way this Spring too!

So this year our group book ended up being a two-family collaboration.  And guess what?  It still turned out adorable, and was a big hit at the fair!  Read what my E.S. Terry sent me in an email after the fair, which another E.S. had sent to her:

The other E.S.'s family wrote:

We all went to the Authors' Fair yesterday, and the kids were quite excited that people had read their works and left comments.  We looked at some of the other books, and one was a book of riddles ending with "Who am I?"  The kids have been busy writing their own riddles last night and this morning!  M's I wrote into a tracing program, so I printed his riddles out with 'conventional spelling' : ) and we decided to use those for his copywork. 

Thank you for encouraging the kids to take part in the authors' fair!  Nothing else has come close to giving them the inspiration to write - both before and after the fair!

 

Now how cool is that?  Our book was inspiring other kids to go home and think and write!

 

This fun anecdote was just what I needed to confirm in my mind what I already thought we would do for next year's group project:  build the riddle book!  This means that we have TWO projects going on for the Author's Fair of 2014, and you have ALL the information you need right now, a year in advance, to be working on them! 

 

--The "What Is It?"  Book of Nature Riddles  (formerly called "Our Big Backyard") group project, where each child/family can submit one or more pages.

 

--The "Book of Months" family writing project.  You parents are the bosses of this project, but I have provided suggestions and guidelines, and we can have a party where we come together and share these the month before the Author's Fair if you like. 

 

So I encourage you interested families to start working on your Book of Months now, so your kids have plenty of time to really get into it if they want and you don't run up against the deadline next year and be frustrated.  It would be a great summer project!  But as always, these are just things you can do or not, depending upon what your kids needs and interests are. 

 

I have updated the labels for these two book projects so you can just click on the label "Book of Months" and it will take you to all those posts, etc.  : )

 

 

 

Another Excellent Book of Months Example

When I made the post the other day about books your family might want to read to get ideas for our 2014 Book of Months writing project, I forgot to share one of our favorites:

The poetry in this book is wonderful, and while you can find it in many editions, the one illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman is our favorite.  Her watercolor and ink drawings are beautiful, and really draw the reader into to the "feel" of each particular month, as much as Updike's words.

Just a taste:

(click on the image to embiggen)

 

The facing November page, illustrating the "beauty of the bone."

I highly recommend this book for your family's bookshelves!

Inspiration for The Book of Months project

I'll tell you how this project got started:  my own Meredith decided about a week before the Author's Fair last year that since her older sister had two books to enter, she would like to write another book to enter as well.  And the child labored for that whole week on detailed pencil drawings and pages of text--all her own "book of months" inspired by this family favorite:

A Time To Keep, by Tasha Tudor

Well, she barely got it done in time for the Author's Fair--no, really, I was sitting there after the fair had started on the mall floor with my back against some shop windows trying to shove her pages (some done vertically and  some horizontally of course, and with text on  both sides) into the clear plastic pages of a photo album our dear ES Terry had brainstormed as the solution to her binding dilemma.  But she had put so much thought into it, and it was such a sweet idea, that I decided we would "do it right" for the next author's fair.  And decided each girl could do her own.  And then though, hey while we are at it, maybe the other Vintage Homeschool kids would like to join in the fun!  

It really is a fun way to record not only the passing of time and the rhythm of a year, but also your own kids lives at this stage.  I have a feeling if you and your kids do a really good job, you will end up with a book you want to hold on to and bring out year after year. 

Here are some other books of months that you and your kids might enjoy reading while getting into the mood for this project:

Over and Over, by Charlotte Zolotow

We love this first one--gentle story about a little girl remembering with her mother what happens in a year's time.

This series has a book for each month, although I have not read them.

Ok, this last one won't be all that helpful with the project.  But I loved this book when I was a kid! ; )

If you know of other books that are similar in vein that you could recommend as creative thinking fodder for this assignment, please leave the titles in the comments.

Our Vintage Homeschool FAMILY Book Project 2014--A Book of Months

Some of you remember that I was brewing up a book project for the annual Author's Fair that could be completed by families or individual kids, but would not be a collective project as we have done in the past.  Well, I have finally figured out how we can do it and make it logical, easy, a great learning exercise for the kids, and potentially a great keepsake!  (Even a great Christmas present for a family member!)

Our project is a Book of Months.  The idea is for your child/children to capture the rhythm of a year in your family.  Each month will have one page describing what your family traditionally does in that month, with one page of illustration (or your child can make more than one page for eventful months--that part is completely up to them/you).  Some things that could be included are holidays, birthdays or other annual family celebrations, typical weather, favorite activities for that season, whatever you and your child(ren) think best captures your year.

Since we are just now starting the new year, and have completed our first month, this is the perfect time to begin this project.  So anyone interested can make a time in the next week or so to talk about January and what they did as a family that month, what is special about that month, etc.  Then have your children write/draw about it while the memories and sensory elements are fresh.  Then at the end of each month, look back and do the pages for that past month.  If we all do a little at a time, the project should not really impact our other schooling, and the kids will have time to get as involved with the writing/illustration as they would like.  Ideally, the project itself will end up being part of the rhythm of this year! 

Of course this project does not have to be done so systematically.  There is absolutely no reason why you can't just do it whenever you remember, when you have room in your school schedule, etc.  I could even see someone doing this project in two weeks--completing one month every day.  So I am just setting out the project the way it could most organically be done, and those of you who want to participate can do the pages and art however/whenever you see fit.

My gift to you will be a reminder here on this blog at the beginning of each new month to look back on the past month and write about it while the memories are fresh. : )  The final goal will be for all the books to be completed this same time next year, and we will have a binding party at one of our Vintage Homeschool gatherings! 

Since each family will be doing this project on their own, but we hope to show them all together at the Author's Fair in May of 2014, there will be certain simple parameters we will use to give overall cohesion to the project. 

--Each child's writing and illustrations should be completed on 8 1/2 x 11 inch white typing paper. 

--Only use one side of each piece of paper.

--The text and its illustration will be on separate pieces of paper.

--I strongly urge you to figure out in advance if your child(ren) wants to have the pages horizontal or vertical--we have learned already from experience with this project the sadness that occurs when some illustrations are one way and some are the other!  Your author(s) can choose which they want--either is completely fine for this project, as long as their whole book is done the same way.

--The text will be typed out in black ink (unless of course your child believes there is a need for colored text).  You can choose the font, but the size should be 14 pt (as long as that fits well on your page--of course you can change it if you think the text length warrants it).

--The text for each page will be centered on the page (both L to R and top to bottom).

--The style of illustration used is entirely up to you and your child as well.  You could even practice different mediums on different pages, if you choose; however, I would recommend you choose one style and use it for the entire book, to keep the months having the same visual "weight."  So if your child chooses watercolor, encourage them to use watercolor throughout the book.

--You may choose to make the book as a family and have different children do different aspects of the project, or each child may do his/her own book.  This too is up to you and your children.

--Be sure to have a safe place to store this project over the year, so the pages are not bent and damaged.  Our family started this project about 8 months ago, and some of the pages that the kids were storing themselves have been creased, a little wrinkled. . . not really a big deal, but if this ends up being a beautiful "keeper" book, then in the long run they may be sorry.

Remember, you should not worry about binding the book--we will do that all together next March or April.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below.  I hope you are as excited about this project as I am!

Happy Writing, all!