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Kitchen Chemistry and Fine Arts Fridays

Fridays are fabulous when friends come together to learn the chemistry behind baked cookies, and the tricks of designing abstract still life paintings. Throw in pizza for lunch and everyone's happy!

While the high school students experimented with calorimetry at Dr. Marsha's domestic lab across the way, the younger students joined me in the kitchen to prepare Periodic Table Cookies.  We discussed the role each ingredient played in making our display so yummy, using this Alton Brown-style  lesson to understand the chemistry of baking. The cookies were a big hit, though a few disappeared mysteriously. (Time ran out before we had a chance to decorate the sweet squares, but there is always next week. After completing  the Atom's Family Worksheets and this Element Jeopardy Game, we will color code and label each element with royal icing).

While the cookies were cooling and the kiddos were chillin, the teenagers returned home for lunch and art class. Homeschooling comrade, Kimberly, ordered tons of pizza and cheesy garlic bread for the whole gang. Now that's a mom who knows how to put smiles on everyone's face (especially those teenage boys).

Dear Husband connected the big screen TV to the computer for use as a homemade Smartboard for these Friday co-operative lessons. Now we can access any museum from cyberspace at a moment's notice. How cool is that?

Once the table was cleared and the spatulas were replaced with paint brushes, we gathered around the electronic "chalk board" in the living room, for a lesson in art history. Then the creative juices began to flow!
Each child chose a still life to sketch and used a ruler to straighten all of the lines in their drawing.
There was the option to curve every line (which seemed more popular with the girls who were painting farm eggs and milk in a pitcher).

Once the lines were adjusted and extended, the task was to paint every section with hues limited to two complimentary colors, which could be used purely, combined, or shaded / tinted with black / white. 
Fruit to be painted in orange and blue hues
Some students took their projects home to finish over the weekend. There never seems to be enough time.
Spring Mix in a Vase (in progress)
Flowers and Candles

Fridays are getting pretty colorful around here and I am loving every messy moment.  More to come next time, when we will create expressive collages on the outside of our portfolios. What a way to round out the school week!

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