We’re squeezing in some awesome info about colors, fashion, and some self-esteem/body awareness stuff for the kids. I want them to feel good in the clothes they wear, make good, nice looking, but seasonally appropriate choices, learn to do more with what they have, and so on. Already having 3 girls, it seems like something we should introduce fairly early.
We spent a little bit of time Monday talking about how colors are just bent light and how no one sees colors the same, how pink used to be a boys color, and blue a girls color and how it doesn’t matter what anyone wears as long as they are comfortable, and tied that into toys and marketing and how anything the kids want to play with is fine.
Tuesday we spent some time going over weird things people wore to ‘look pretty’ and how sometimes it hurt and that wasn’t right. See topical books below for the A-Z fashion book for more on that. We chatted about how make up and clothes can make you feel different/better but doesn’t actually make you look prettier, that it’s the inside light that you shine that makes you beautiful.
We continued fashion talk on Wednesday with me summing up ‘Oh No She Didn’t’ by Clinton Kelly with a few rules for the kids about dressing to go out in public, and how kids might have some relaxed rules there (dressy sneakers with skirts is fine for kids, not so much for grown women, and so on)…. hopefully that passed on some advice that isn’t ‘just what mom said’…
We’ve done 2 really cool art projects/studies, one being the mixing of secondary and tertiary colors, using pins from this board and the other being one that’s more like a ‘paint sample’ project I’ve been hanging onto for a while. The kids had a lot of fun with both and asked to the do mixing of colors one again.
Our toddler has been on the rampage unless I turn the TV on and since she doesn’t really watch it unless it’s absolutely necessary for my sanity, I figure that it won’t hurt her too much, she reads with us during breakfast and really enjoys it so I count that much as a win. I’m officially outnumbered and she’s generally a fantastic kid, so if it buys me 20 minutes of peace to help the other kids with math then that’s alright with me. I’m 8+ months pregnant (35 weeks as of Friday) and just plain tired. She wants to watch Blaze and the Monster Machines and learn about angles, trajectory, and trucks? It’s Sesame Street with a truck theme. Fine.
Topical books:
Mouse Paint by Walsh
I see colors by Williams
Pete the Cat I like my white shoes (youtube version) by Litwin
Pete the Cat Rocking in my School shoes (youtube)
Pete the Cat Too Cool for School (you tube)
Hooray for Hair (The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That) by Rabe
Fashion Design by Jones
When Royals Wore Ruffles (A funny and Fashionable Alphabet!) by McLaren
10 Things You Need to Know About Fashion by Jones (wouldn’t use this again, geared toward teen/tweens)
Topical Resource books:
Oh No She Didn’t by Kelly
6 year old Independent reading:
Mandy by Edwards
Splinters by Sylvester
The Dwarf Pine Tree by Lifton
The 26-Story Treehouse by Griffiths
The 39 Story Treehouse by Griffiths
The Halloween Tree by Bradbury
Lola the Fashion Show Fairy Rainbow Magic by Meadows
Tyra the Designer Fairy Rainbow Magic by Meadows
Brooke the Photographer Fairy Rainbow Magic by Meadows
Jennifer the Hairstylist Fairy Rainbow Magic by Meadows
Ma and Pa Dracula by Martin
Summer with Elisa by Hurwitz
Baby Sitters Little Sister Karen’s Monsters by Martin
Baby Sitters Little Sister Karen’s Leprechaun by Martin
4 year old reading time:
I was thinking we hadn’t done any, but yesterday I had her read to/with me (she read most of it) BIG PIG ON A DIG (Usborne)
Art:
Mixing colors
Collages made of paint color samples (see photos, above)
Colors that make you happy!
Worksheets:
6 yo: Adjectives, 2nd grade level subtraction and word problems, writing unit 2 spelling words–UNIT 2 PASSED! starting unit 3.
4 yo: beginning subtraction (with crossing out pictures), writing ‘thank, you, love, I’ and then writing a thank you note! Pre-K reading skills that includes colors packet from education.com see pin HERE
Hands on:
UniLoc Tiles to make patterns (4 yo)
Linking up for our weekly write- up with: http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/weekly-wrap-up/
I think a color and fashion lesson is an awesome idea! You might want to cover “timeless” fashion too – modesty and classic looks as opposed to skin and fads. My granddaughter is very “stylish” right now, but I look at the gauges in her ears and the heavy, heavy make up and the ripped jeans that look like panty hose with runs in them and hope that she’ll be able to find a job in the future. She wants to pierce everything but has an aversion to tattoos (thank goodness). Her constantly-changing haircolor is interesting – currently a bright robin’s egg blue – but her natural hair is so much prettier. I’m a good granny – I don’t say anything and when I think it looks nice, I tell her, but I truly hope this is a passing fad. The ears, unfortunately, will need surgery if she decides to get rid of the gauges. So, yes! I’m totally in favor of fashion as something to be taught. It might help avoid some of the extremes, but it might also help them to feel more confident in their appearances and not like a fish out of water (like I do much of the time).