Heart of the Matter

photo credit: Christine – From Storms to Sunshine

We’ve all been there.  Perfect photo op time, perhaps on a sunny summer vacation, with visiting grandparents, or the first milestones of life but then (oh then!) when we are handed our photos from the kiosk at Walmart or upload them onto our computer, we see that all we envisioned behind the camera did not come to be.  Red eye, blur, footless or headless people, harsh shadows, just to name a few of the thorns that can aggravate the great parent photographer in us!

So here are some quick tips that will allow your photos to look natural and unstaged, but still enable them to SHINE!

1.) Turn off the flash.

Unless it’s midnight and pitch dark, you’ll do better without it.  Taking a photo indoors?  Move by a window.  Natural light is phenomenal!  God made it so!  Windows or open doorways act as wonderful filters for sunlight and so do porches.

Practice taking a few photos this way, moving your subject nearer or further from the light source and either turned toward the light or slightly away from it.  I promise, you’ll be hooked.

2.) Get to the shade.

If it’s a sunny day and you’re at the beach and want a group photo, assemble everyone under the covering of the bathhouse or the shade of a tree.  Direct sun leaves harsh unflattering lines in photos.  No shade nearby but your daughter just built a model of Buckingham Palace out of sand?  No problem.  Be the shade.  Block the sun with your back and take your photo.  If you have the option, sunrise and sunset are two of the best times to take photos.

3.) Get closer.

Unless you’re standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, too much background distracts from the subject in your photo.  Don’t be afraid to move in closer.

3.) Perspective.

Most people (parents) take photos of their kids from the perspective of an adult.  Try crouching down, lying on the ground, and getting to their level for your photos.

4.) Please, please, please, don’t ask them to say “cheese.”

The best photos of my kids happen when I ask them about what they are doing or what they liked best about their day or any other question that gets them talking.  I love their expressions and natural smiles.

5.) Remember the rule of thirds.

If you’ve ever taken an art class, this might not be news to you, but if not, don’t despair: just imagine three grid lines across your camera lens when you look through.  Focus the majority of your subject matter into either a third or two thirds of these lines and you’ll have a photo pleasing to the eye.  And please don’t forget the feet.  If taking a photo of your kids standing up, include their cute toes too.

That’s all!  Pick up your camera, grab a willing subject and practice away!  By the time the impromptu photo opportunity comes knocking, you’ll be an old pro in making the most of the available light and loveliness.

Hannah Hagarty is a relaxed homeschooling mama of five. Her and her family are big on the outdoors, big on family days, and big on making memories in everyday small ways. She loves handcrafts, iced lattes, re-arranging furniture and counts falling into bed exhausted a sign of a really great day. She and her husband make a home in upstate New York with their energetic children and a menagerie of animals. Hannah blogs at Cultivating Home.

I am a former elementary public school teacher who now homeschools. In the classroom, I began every year with a read-aloud from the children’s book, Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus. Then we’d start a big discussion with me asking the question, “Tell me some of the fun and interesting things you’ve already ‘bloomed’ into? What are some of the things you already do really well?”

The children’s responses would include, “I can tie my shoes. I can count to 100. I can read. I can run really fast! I know how to tell time. My Mom taught me how to bake a cake . . . .” Next, I would bring the conversation back to Leo the Late Bloomer prompting, “Just like Leo we all bloom at different times. Some of us can run really fast and some of us already know how to read. We are all different. What are some of the things you’d like to ‘bloom into’ or learn how to do this year?” The children were never at a loss for the things they wanted to learn during the year. “I want to read a great big thick book. I want to learn how to multiply. I want to learn how to make a goal in soccer. . . .” From here the lesson would continue with a lesson on how to make an appropriate book selection for independent reading time.

Year to year, I never considered that God may give me a Leo the Late Bloomer.

When my son was born, we received a very special gift. A friend and her teenage son went to the bookstore. The teenage son selected three of his favorite childhood books for our new baby: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Good Night Moon and Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel. Upon opening the package, I cuddled on the bed with my 6 week old son and began reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear. His face lit up and I could see his little baby brain thinking, thinking, thinking. We read it 6 times! He was in love. Since that day, our children have been read to EVERY day of their lives. I read to them each day and their Daddy reads to them EVERY night. And since Daddy’s a sucker, they usually get 5 or 6 good books out of him!

As a toddler, my son showed-up one night with the children’s classic Are You My Mother? He proceeded to “read” the book cover to cover, page by page, word for word. He “read” with fluency, with excitement and with voices for all of the characters. He had memorized the entire book. This reading teacher and mother beamed! Our rich early literacy environment was producing an early reader!

Homeschool kindergarten rolled around and I was surprised that my “early reader” wasn’t reading. He didn’t even know his letters or numbers consistently. So we got busy learning our letters and letter sounds. And just like in the story Leo the Late Bloomer, my son didn’t bloom.

We read and read and read and read! I made dozens of early little readers to create easy, familiar reading material for my son. My son still wasn’t blooming.

We learned a core of easy familiar, high frequency words. My son still wasn’t blooming.

We wrote and wrote and wrote. We wrote in journals. We did interactive writing together. We used sound boxes to help us hear our letter sounds. We did cut-apart sentences. My son still didn’t bloom. However, since he has a summer birthday I really wasn’t too concerned with his progress.

During his kindergarten year, my son bloomed into airplane construction. This was cut free hand from an index card and assembled with tape.

Next, my son bloomed into dinosaur construction. He began free hand drawing the different parts of a dinosaur, cutting them out and then assembling them into 3D creations.

Then my son bloomed into producing precise drawings of things like the parts of an insect.

He bloomed into a LOVE for nonfiction books and then creating art based on the knowledge he’d gained.  He bloomed into studying, measuring and creating a life sized dinosaur. My son bloomed into an artistic view of the world, seeing an opportunity to create everywhere.

We’ve just finished-up first grade and my son still has not bloomed on the traditional, public school time line. But anyone who spends time with him is amazed at his artistic gift of design and construction. His artistic ideas come from him. I have nothing to do with 99.9% of his projects.

Long before I became a homeschooling Mommy, The Agony and the Ecstasy became one of my favorite books. It is a biographical novel about Michelangelo. When I saw Michelangelo’s David in person, I was mesmerized by the genius mind of this man. Now, I’m not saying my little late bloomer will bloom into Michelangelo, but what if I don’t give him the freedom to develop the artistic seed that God planted inside of him?

So for now we will plunge full speed ahead with our reading, writing and arithmetic. But my son will also be given time each day to explore the world and nurture the special artistic seed that was planted inside of him! If I could recommend one book for every parent and teacher to read it would be Your Child’s Strengths: A Guide for Parents and Teachers by Jenifer Fox, M. Ed. Jenifer Fox challenges us to look at our children’s potential through their unique strengths.

Jeannine Aristeguieta is a homeschooling Mom who is passionate about creating vibrant souls in her children, ages 7 and 3. Her educational philosophy is to keep it simple, keep it uncomplicated and spontaneous, and keep it engaging and hands-on. Jeannine is a former public school teacher, with a specialization in reading, and an educational consultant. She is blessed to live in Texas with her husband, of 22 years, and their two children. Jeannine and her sister Joyce blog at waddleeahchaa.com.

With so many different subjects to cover it is hard to know where to focus a fine arts study. Focusing on the great painters will leave little time for the great composers. Likewise, focusing on photography may leave architecture hanging on a beam. Choosing ballet may leave a child too tired to also take up theatre. There is so much that there is no way that you can focus on every aspect of fine art. Well, no humanly possible way anyway. I suppose if you are Superman you could accomplish such a feat.

If you think about it, Leonardo daVinci was many things–an inventor, a painter, sculptor, and the list goes on. He was very artistic and utilized his understanding of art to further his knowledge–but he is certainly not known for any great pieces of music. Likewise, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote many forms of music and composed many pieces involving many instruments and forms of vocalization, but he wasn’t exactly known for paintings.

The great artists of old knew that they needed to focus their energies within their own talent’s sphere. They did venture forth and learn more, but it was all within the confines of their own medium. So how do you choose what to focus on and what to pass over?

That is a hard choice. I have been known to try to fit it all in. I mean, they have to be exposed to it all, don’t they? They need to know of all the composers, they need to be able to recognize every famous painting, they need to know what architectural designs come from what era, and they need to know not only how to sing, but also how to dance. Don’t they?

Actually they don’t. They don’t need to know every aspect of fine art. Life will go on if they do not know who painted “Sunflowers” or who composed “Spring.” The world will continue to turn if they have no clue where the meaning of the gargoyles on churches came from or if they can’t carry a tune in a bucket. Life WILL go on.

So what do they need to know? And how deep do we need to go with it? That depends on the child. I find that for true learning to happen our children must have a desire to learn the lessons taught. No one will open their mind to something they find objectionable. They will drag their heels, close their minds and fight you every step of the way. They will protest in any form they can think of to force you to give in. If they are simply not interested, there is very little that you can do to force them to want to learn it. So the choice must be theirs.

Offering an introduction to the various forms of fine art is the way to do it. Leaving a book available containing the great pieces found in the Louvre will introduce the great artists. Listening to a CD of classical music will introduce the great composers of all times. Taking your child and pointing out some of the interesting pieces of architecture in your city will not only let this “dusty old building” art form come alive, but it will help them learn to observe life in their own “back yard.”

I have found that once these introductions are made, my children will ask for more of what interests them. My oldest could care less about art, but creative writing has her intrigued so much that she is trying her hand at writing her own novel–at 13! My 10 year old has undertaken the task of learning how to paint buildings (in oils). My 6 year old dances to any music I turn on–she has never had a dance class but watching ballets on the television has inspired her in ways that I never could.

By giving them a chance to form their own opinions and letting them have the lead, I have let them develop their own desire to learn. This desire is one that I could never have fabricated with all the lesson plans in the world.

Since they have formed these desires, I have sought ways to let them learn and grow. I have taken the time to work with my 13 year old on her novel, helped her expand on her young knowledge and stretch her abilities. I have provided books on painting in different mediums and on sketching, and have even tried my hand at something unfamiliar in order to help my 10 year old learn a specific technique that is troubling her, more often than not with a very comical result (I am not artistically talented). Unfortunately the only thing I can do for my 6 year old is provide more ballets for her to watch and clap for every personal recital.

So my advice is to let go, just a bit, and let them decide what to focus on. Don’t try to fit it all in, as you will never do it all and will in the end regret that they didn’t learn as much as you hoped.

Watching them delve as deep as they want into a subject they are truly passionate about will be all the reward you will need. You will be able to watch as your child excels at something they truly enjoy, and you will never regret those hours that could have been used to force them to endure a subject they found incredibly boring.

Let go, and enjoy their talents.

Patty Thompson is a homeschooling mom to 4 kids and wife to her high school sweetheart. She has been homeschooling for 4 years and loving every minute of it. Future plans include Homeschooling through high school. Her kids range from Kindergarten through 8th grade. Her style is very eclectic and believes in going with what works! She is rarely seen without a book in her hand. She loves to plan lessons and unit studies. She has started working with a co-op group and has enjoyed teaching group classes. Her hobbies include Genealogy and card making. She has often been found lost in thought on her blog. Catch her there and take a moment to feed their school mascot, Shiver, at Shiver Academy.