Unschool Art

The kids have been having the hardest time lately being able to tell which clothes are outside/mud/play clothes, and have been wearing their decent clothes out to get dirty in. I came up with a solution a few days ago which we implemented yesterday. We spent family time painting the play clothes. *grin* Now there will never be the excuse of "I didn't know these weren't play clothes" again! The added bonus was that they learned about mixing colors, had an absolute messy blast on the kitchen floor, and have something to be proud of to show for their time. They were excited when, after painting, I told them that when they outgrow the clothes they could likely sell them on eBay. *laugh* My little Ferengi. The pictures only showed up today because we had to wait for the clothes to dry first. *smile*

I painted the words and such on the clothes myself, and did my project for "Inspire Me" while they painted. We aren't done with all of the clothes yet, but those pictured are what we've finished so far.

I'm hoping also that the painted clothes will stop the neighbors from being so nosy and trying to call social services because the kids are "dirty" when playing outside in the mud. (Duh! They're in the MUD!) And heavens forbid they are outside while school is in session. (Hello? Homeschooling is legal. Anyone home in your head?) I'm hoping the text forces some people to get the point. Folks who refuse to ask questions to learn the truth and instead waste our & the gov's time making us into terrified balls of stress aren't precisely my cup of tea, but moving wouldn't help anything because the ignorance is everywhere. (As for being terrified, you try being ANY parent, no matter how perfect, and see how it feels to have the people who take children from their homes knocking on your door to investigate you. Especially when you *horrified gasp* don't send them to school!!!)

I hadn't intended to rant today, it was such a beautiful day. Sometimes remembering the stupid really bugs me though, even if it was so long ago. *laugh* Sun was shining, found a free grill on the roadside (needs extreme cleaning), had some more lovely family time, rearranged the house & my office/studio, cleaned a bit more, put some food out to defrost for the coming week, tried a new bread recipe (failed miserably *laugh* I'll get it right in time), and I learned how to make rope out of plant fibers so I can teach the kids later. Really a great day for us. *grin*

Don't worry about the paint around Littlebit's mouth, it's non toxic. She was using her face to open the paint bottles, and agrees with me that it tasted horrible.

Update: I just realized that the image of the yellow hoodie is hard to read. It says "feral".