“Art is just one of those things that the more you practice it, the better you get at it.” ~ Courtney Sanford
Watch this full interview on our YouTube Channel.
Yvette Hampton sits down with Courtney Sanford from the Delightful Art Company. Discover the transformative power of art in homeschooling as they explore fun activities like sculpture, the joys of reading aloud, and even how dads can take an active role in their children’s education.✨
Has the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast been a blessing to you? Support from our listeners allows us provide resources, support, and encouragement to homeschooling families around the world. Would you please consider a year-end gift to support the Schoolhouse Rocked ministry?
Recommended Resources
The Art of Ancient History, by Courtney Sanford
Reflections on Art History, by Courtney Sanford
Draw Your Way Into the Woods, by Courtney Sanford
Christian Worldview Film Festival
Recommended Art Supplies:
48 PCS Sketch Drawing Tools, 20 Blending Stumps Set
Liquitex BASICS Acrylic Paint Tube 12-Piece Set
1 inch Flat Paint Brushes for Acrylic Painting
Mixed Media Art Journal Sketchbook (Hardcover)
Mixed Media Art Journal Sketchbook (Spiral Bound)
Podcast Recommendations:
Homeschooling Every Subject Series
📚📖 Ready to start homeschooling? 🏠📓
🍿 Stream Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution 🍿 for FREE today and get the 📖 Homeschool Survival Kit 📖 delivered to your inbox immediately!
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Are you in need of a fresh vision for your homeschool? Join us for 4 days of Homeschool Encouragement at the Homegrown Generation Family Expo. Use the coupon code PODCAST to save 25% on registration today!
Discussion Questions:
-
Yvette Hampton shared a humorous story about her younger daughter’s initial disinterest in art changing over time. How can parents identify and nurture hidden talents in their children?
-
Courtney Sanford mentioned that the ability to draw or paint can be developed through practice. Do you agree that artistic skills are learned rather than innate? Why or why not?
-
Courtney mentioned the use of Sculpey Clay as a less messy alternative for sculpture projects. What are some other art materials or techniques you’ve found that can help mitigate mess in a homeschool setting, while still providing a rich learning experience?
-
The episode briefly discusses the role of fathers in homeschooling, particularly the contribution of Courtney’s husband through reading aloud. What are some other ways dad’s can be more involved in homeschooling, while still managing their work and family responsibilities?
-
Courtney Sanford shared her husband’s involvement in teaching practical skills like building a trebuchet or fixing cars. How important do you think hands-on projects are in a homeschool environment, particularly for subjects like art and science?
-
Courtney Sanford emphasized the role of practice and constant refinement in becoming proficient at art. How can this principle be applied to other areas of learning in homeschool?
-
The episode highlighted several art-related extracurricular activities, from theater to sculpting. How can parents balance structured academic learning with these creative pursuits in their homeschooling and family schedules?
These questions should help stimulate thoughtful discussion about the episode and its content.
Be the most popular mom in your co-op. Get your Schoolhouse Rocked merch here.
SPONSORS:
CTCMath – CTCMath specializes in providing online video tutorials that take a multi-sensory approach to learning. Creative graphics and animation, synchronized with the friendly voice of internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, make learning math easy and effective. Start your free trial today.
BJU Press Homeschool provides complete curriculum for preschool through 12th grade with both traditional textbooks and video courses available. Education from a Christian worldview reshapes how children see the world. BJU Press materials teach Christ’s power and lordship through the Big Story of creation.
Apologia – Apologia is a Christ-centered, award-winning homeschool curriculum provider. Our mission is to help homeschooling students and families learn, live, and defend the Christian faith through our print and digital curriculum and online classes.
The Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast is a member of the Biblical Family Network. Our mission is to support and encourage the family by providing the very best podcasts on family, discipleship, marriage, parenting, worldview, culture, and education, all from a Biblical perspective. Visit the website for more great shows, like the Thinking Dad, Culture Proof, Homeschool Insights, and Made2Homeschool.
Connect with us:
@schoolhouse_rocked on Instagram
Schoolhouse Rocked on Facebook
Schoolhouse Rocked Website (Blog, Newsletter, Support, Store, Movie, and More!)
00:00:00,160 –> 00:00:03,790
My son was not a fan of going to sleep. He would fight it. And
2
00:00:03,830 –> 00:00:07,502
so my husband, it was kind of a battle of wills. My husband was like,
3
00:00:07,526 –> 00:00:10,118
I’m going to read to him till he goes to sleep. And my son was
4
00:00:10,134 –> 00:00:13,606
like, I’m going to stay up all night. And so this battle of wills
5
00:00:13,638 –> 00:00:16,890
resulted in them reading tons and tons of literature.
6
00:00:17,630 –> 00:00:21,286
Hey, everyone, this is Yvette Hampton. Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rocked
7
00:00:21,318 –> 00:00:25,118
Podcast. I am back with Courtney Sanford from the Delightful Art Company,
8
00:00:25,254 –> 00:00:28,830
and we’re talking about art this week. So if you missed Monday’s
9
00:00:28,870 –> 00:00:32,622
and yesterday’s episodes, go back and listen to those. And this has
10
00:00:32,646 –> 00:00:36,398
been a fun conversation. Um, I it makes me want to, um.
11
00:00:36,494 –> 00:00:39,694
As soon as I’m done recording here, go and do some art with my girls,
12
00:00:39,742 –> 00:00:43,206
because it’s so much fun. I love doing that. I did not know this is.
13
00:00:43,238 –> 00:00:46,686
I should have brought this picture with me, but my. My
14
00:00:46,798 –> 00:00:50,526
oldest has always been very artistic. My youngest, she was the one.
15
00:00:50,558 –> 00:00:53,766
This is so funny. We would pick her up from Sunday
16
00:00:53,838 –> 00:00:57,094
school. It was the only time we ever left her anywhere, but she would go
17
00:00:57,102 –> 00:01:00,828
to Sunday school, and they always had a coloring page that went
18
00:01:00,884 –> 00:01:04,596
along with the Bible story. And before they could
19
00:01:04,628 –> 00:01:08,468
go play, they would have to color their coloring page. Like, that’s just kind
20
00:01:08,484 –> 00:01:11,900
of the order that they did stuff in. And she was not going to take
21
00:01:11,940 –> 00:01:15,724
her time to color in all of the things. So she would take
22
00:01:15,772 –> 00:01:19,284
one color of one crayon. I don’t think she even cared what color it was.
23
00:01:19,372 –> 00:01:23,052
And she would scribble across the entire page just to say she
24
00:01:23,076 –> 00:01:26,236
colored it. And then she’d be like, okay, I’m gonna go play now. And she
25
00:01:26,268 –> 00:01:30,098
would be off playing because she’s just so active. But she
26
00:01:30,154 –> 00:01:33,522
never has really been into art. And all of a sudden, last year, she took
27
00:01:33,546 –> 00:01:37,282
an art class at the co-op that we go to, and
28
00:01:37,306 –> 00:01:41,146
now she can draw these beautiful portraits. It’s incredible. And it’s
29
00:01:41,178 –> 00:01:44,786
amazing to me that this girl, who has never really been interested
30
00:01:44,818 –> 00:01:48,434
in art, all of a sudden can draw people.
31
00:01:48,522 –> 00:01:52,330
I mean, I can barely draw a stick figure, but she’s drawing eyes
32
00:01:52,410 –> 00:01:55,750
and faces and noses, and they’re beautifully done,
33
00:01:56,150 –> 00:01:59,894
like, in awe of how well she’s done on these. But
34
00:02:00,022 –> 00:02:02,782
God has somehow given her the talent to be able to draw. And we never
35
00:02:02,806 –> 00:02:06,342
even knew she had this talent. She didn’t know she had this talent. And she
36
00:02:06,366 –> 00:02:09,590
did her first portrait, and we were like, wow, who did
37
00:02:09,630 –> 00:02:13,470
that? Did you really do that? And it’s so exciting to see that,
38
00:02:13,590 –> 00:02:17,198
that’s a myth. The myth that you’re either born knowing how to do it or
39
00:02:17,214 –> 00:02:20,970
you’re not, I think is kind of a myth that we could bust because
40
00:02:21,350 –> 00:02:24,278
there are a lot of things that you could learn, like she learned from her
41
00:02:24,294 –> 00:02:27,350
class. I can teach you a lot of tricks that can take you from stick
42
00:02:27,390 –> 00:02:31,162
figure to portrait. Yes. Like if you, if you were to walk in and
43
00:02:31,186 –> 00:02:34,586
I was playing box Brandenburg concerto, you
44
00:02:34,698 –> 00:02:38,346
probably didn’t think, oh, she just sat down and knew how to do that. You
45
00:02:38,378 –> 00:02:42,106
would think she practiced for a long time to be able to do
46
00:02:42,138 –> 00:02:45,802
that. It’s the same with painting. We practice
47
00:02:45,946 –> 00:02:49,738
a lot. We don’t show you the practice. Nobody sees the practice pieces
48
00:02:49,794 –> 00:02:53,594
because we throw them away. But we practice a lot. We practice
49
00:02:53,642 –> 00:02:57,002
those skills of brush control, mixing the colors.
50
00:02:57,146 –> 00:03:00,634
So there’s a, there’s a lot of practice that people just don’t
51
00:03:00,682 –> 00:03:04,386
see that goes into drawing and painting. Yes,
52
00:03:04,458 –> 00:03:08,298
yes, I agree. You know, one of the talents that I think you really
53
00:03:08,354 –> 00:03:12,178
have to be born with is the ability to sing. I cannot sing
54
00:03:12,234 –> 00:03:15,434
to save my life. I could probably take voice lessons for ten years and I’m
55
00:03:15,482 –> 00:03:18,818
still not going to be able to sing well. But art is different,
56
00:03:18,914 –> 00:03:22,578
and being able to play an instrument is different. We talked about that with Andrew
57
00:03:22,674 –> 00:03:25,754
a few weeks ago. And so, yeah, I agree. I think art is just one
58
00:03:25,762 –> 00:03:28,614
of those things that the more you practice it, the better you get at it.
59
00:03:28,622 –> 00:03:32,334
And I think it’s something that just about anybody can do. So. So we’ll
60
00:03:32,382 –> 00:03:35,078
talk more about art today, but before we do, I want to say thank you
61
00:03:35,094 –> 00:03:38,942
again to our sponsor, BJU Press Homeschool. If you guys are looking for
62
00:03:39,006 –> 00:03:42,398
great curriculum that’s taught from a solid biblical
63
00:03:42,454 –> 00:03:43,526
worldview, check them
64
00:03:43,558 –> 00:03:47,134
out at bjupresshomeschool.com. we love
65
00:03:47,182 –> 00:03:50,574
BJU Press. We’ve used them throughout the years for many different
66
00:03:50,622 –> 00:03:54,446
subjects and we have never been disappointed with them. We are so grateful
67
00:03:54,478 –> 00:03:57,640
for the team there and their commitment to producing
68
00:03:57,720 –> 00:04:01,552
curriculum that is just strong biblically and will help point your
69
00:04:01,576 –> 00:04:04,640
kids to Jesus. So check them out. Bjupresshomeschool.com.
70
00:04:04,720 –> 00:04:08,360
Well, Courtney, welcome back
71
00:04:08,440 –> 00:04:12,192
again to part three of our episode on
72
00:04:12,296 –> 00:04:16,100
teaching art in our homeschool. And this has been a fun thing to talk about.
73
00:04:16,400 –> 00:04:19,904
Let’s hit really quickly on sculpture because I know that’s something
74
00:04:19,952 –> 00:04:22,792
else that you teach, and that’s one of those things that I feel like, well,
75
00:04:22,816 –> 00:04:26,620
how could, I mean, other than Plato, right? Or maybe getting some clay
76
00:04:27,610 –> 00:04:31,250
at an art store. How do you teach sculpture in homeschool?
77
00:04:31,370 –> 00:04:35,050
Well, I started off teaching paper mache, and not all
78
00:04:35,090 –> 00:04:38,770
kids like that messiness and the feel of paper mache.
79
00:04:38,810 –> 00:04:42,450
I love it, but more often than not, kids
80
00:04:42,490 –> 00:04:46,282
hate it. So I have left that behind. I do that
81
00:04:46,306 –> 00:04:50,138
at home or for the theater for props, but
82
00:04:50,314 –> 00:04:54,138
I have found that kids like sculpey Clay. It’s not messy. It doesn’t involve
83
00:04:54,194 –> 00:04:57,896
water. It holds its shape pretty well. And to
84
00:04:57,928 –> 00:05:01,712
get it. To get. To make something tall and skinny, you
85
00:05:01,736 –> 00:05:05,400
can wrap it around a toothpick, or you can make a little
86
00:05:05,440 –> 00:05:09,248
frame out of heavy duty aluminum foil from the
87
00:05:09,264 –> 00:05:12,520
kitchen. Okay. So those are some easy things that you can build
88
00:05:12,560 –> 00:05:16,312
a form out of aluminum foil and then just cover it with a
89
00:05:16,336 –> 00:05:20,032
sculpey clay, and then you just bake it, like, at 300 degrees for
90
00:05:20,056 –> 00:05:23,816
15 minutes, and then you can paint it. So, sculpey
91
00:05:23,848 –> 00:05:27,408
clay is so much fun. I just finished doing
92
00:05:27,584 –> 00:05:31,368
with my high schoolers. We’re going through out
93
00:05:31,384 –> 00:05:34,680
of the silent planet with cs Lewis, and there
94
00:05:34,720 –> 00:05:38,536
are creatures from another planet, and we don’t really know
95
00:05:38,568 –> 00:05:41,872
what they look like. So I read to them what Cs Lewis wrote about what
96
00:05:41,896 –> 00:05:45,260
they looked like, and then we sculpted them out of sculpey clay,
97
00:05:45,880 –> 00:05:49,488
and that was really fun because they’re super tall and thin, and that’s hard to
98
00:05:49,504 –> 00:05:53,316
do, hard to imagine. So we sculpted, like, what
99
00:05:53,348 –> 00:05:56,380
we thought they would look like, and then we stretched them out, and we got.
100
00:05:56,420 –> 00:05:59,468
We’d get them to where we liked them, and then we’d bake them, and then
101
00:05:59,484 –> 00:06:02,796
they would stand up, and some of the students painted them,
102
00:06:02,868 –> 00:06:06,228
but we. Then we would shine a
103
00:06:06,244 –> 00:06:10,080
flashlight on them to get some dramatic lighting, and then we would draw them.
104
00:06:10,420 –> 00:06:14,132
So that was a really fun project. That
105
00:06:14,156 –> 00:06:17,932
is so fun. Where do you get sculpey clay from? Just any art store? Yeah,
106
00:06:17,956 –> 00:06:21,748
any art store or Amazon. I like to get a one pound block
107
00:06:21,804 –> 00:06:25,636
of white sculpey clay. Okay. And it just. It’s
108
00:06:25,668 –> 00:06:29,452
so easy to work with and mess free. Yeah, I’m writing down that
109
00:06:29,476 –> 00:06:33,172
down right now, because, again, that’s another thing. I’m always looking for things for Lacey
110
00:06:33,196 –> 00:06:36,956
to do with her hands while I’m reading because that’s just what she enjoys
111
00:06:36,988 –> 00:06:40,748
doing. And so, you know, we’re running out of ideas. I’ve done
112
00:06:40,764 –> 00:06:43,532
that. I’ve done that. I’ve done that. I’ve done that. I pulled out a puzzle
113
00:06:43,556 –> 00:06:47,114
the other day. She’s like, I don’t want to do a puzzle. Okay, well,
114
00:06:47,282 –> 00:06:50,986
let’s make bracelets, then I don’t know what to do. And she
115
00:06:51,018 –> 00:06:54,746
might be inspired by histories. They’re like, in our latin class, they make
116
00:06:54,778 –> 00:06:58,562
roman coins, or they look at roman coins, and then they make their
117
00:06:58,586 –> 00:07:02,194
own roman coins, so they might put their own face on their coin. So
118
00:07:02,282 –> 00:07:05,930
fun. Yeah. And it doesn’t take a ton of equipment. You can
119
00:07:05,970 –> 00:07:09,610
get plastic carving tools, or you could just use a pencil and
120
00:07:09,650 –> 00:07:12,900
some stuff from the kitchen to
121
00:07:13,440 –> 00:07:16,720
shape it. That’s really fun. I know. Even dollar tree actually
122
00:07:16,800 –> 00:07:20,580
has quite a bit of art supplies, and they’ve got different little,
123
00:07:21,640 –> 00:07:25,272
kind of like art knives and sculpting knives, things like
124
00:07:25,296 –> 00:07:29,144
that. Yeah, they’ve got lots of options there. So that might be a
125
00:07:29,152 –> 00:07:32,992
good place. Yeah. The other tip I’ll give you is if you’re at the dollar
126
00:07:33,016 –> 00:07:36,760
tree, get one of their pieces of poster board. It feels almost like
127
00:07:36,800 –> 00:07:40,388
plastic, and it makes the best surface for doing art
128
00:07:40,444 –> 00:07:44,188
on or clay or anything. So I just buy a bunch of them, and when
129
00:07:44,204 –> 00:07:46,796
it gets too bad, I just throw it away and get out a fresh one.
130
00:07:46,948 –> 00:07:49,748
Oh, that is a great idea. Then it doesn’t make a huge mess all over
131
00:07:49,764 –> 00:07:52,988
your table, and you can lift it up and move it away when it’s time
132
00:07:53,004 –> 00:07:56,796
for dinner. And not worry about having to eat your
133
00:07:56,828 –> 00:08:00,588
green beans around your clay, because that’s no fun. Nobody wants to do that.
134
00:08:00,644 –> 00:08:04,324
So, yeah, sculpture is fine. Do you teach sculpture? Do you have a class
135
00:08:04,372 –> 00:08:08,112
where you teach sculpture specifically, or do you just incorporate that
136
00:08:08,136 –> 00:08:11,792
into other classes? Yes, I incorporate a lesson a
137
00:08:11,816 –> 00:08:15,496
semester in some classes. Okay. So different
138
00:08:15,528 –> 00:08:19,024
classes have different focuses. But I think it’s important for any
139
00:08:19,072 –> 00:08:22,792
student who is coming through high school to have experienced
140
00:08:22,896 –> 00:08:26,640
sculpture of some kind. There are different things you can do with sculpture.
141
00:08:26,680 –> 00:08:30,376
You could do paper sculptures. Construction paper can be folded and bent
142
00:08:30,408 –> 00:08:34,160
and glued, but I like for them to have
143
00:08:34,200 –> 00:08:37,896
some kind of experience with 3d work before they finish
144
00:08:37,928 –> 00:08:41,696
high school. Yeah. So fun. Okay, let’s talk for a few
145
00:08:41,728 –> 00:08:45,432
minutes about theater, because I know you have experience with theater
146
00:08:45,496 –> 00:08:49,280
as well. And this is, of course, one of the primary genres of
147
00:08:49,320 –> 00:08:52,464
art. I’ll go through those again. We talked about those on Monday. I’m not sure
148
00:08:52,472 –> 00:08:56,096
if we talked about them yesterday. I think we did. But the seven primary genres
149
00:08:56,128 –> 00:08:59,204
of art are painting, sculpture, architecture,
150
00:08:59,372 –> 00:09:02,400
literature, film, theater, and music.
151
00:09:03,060 –> 00:09:06,628
So talk about theater for a minute. Well, I started out
152
00:09:06,724 –> 00:09:10,276
my career, so I was graphic designer. My first and best job
153
00:09:10,348 –> 00:09:14,052
was at the Blumenthal Performing Arts center in Charlotte, which huge performing arts
154
00:09:14,076 –> 00:09:17,780
center. We had theater, opera, ballet, local theater,
155
00:09:17,860 –> 00:09:21,436
Broadway shows. And so I got to design
156
00:09:21,548 –> 00:09:25,004
the ads and the billboards and the posters and everything print
157
00:09:25,052 –> 00:09:27,800
related, but I also got to go see every play,
158
00:09:28,660 –> 00:09:32,444
and I didn’t have to pay for it so I could see
159
00:09:32,532 –> 00:09:36,372
all the opera, which is so expensive. I would have never paid for all
160
00:09:36,396 –> 00:09:40,132
the opera. So I discovered that I loved opera, and I
161
00:09:40,156 –> 00:09:43,652
loved ballet and all the things, all the things on the
162
00:09:43,676 –> 00:09:47,516
stage. So that was just a fabulous. And I was fun
163
00:09:47,548 –> 00:09:51,196
to contribute to the print and the advertising of that. And then when
164
00:09:51,228 –> 00:09:54,676
my kids were younger, they were in christian new theater
165
00:09:54,788 –> 00:09:58,632
around here. And so, of course, I would volunteer to. To help out in
166
00:09:58,656 –> 00:10:02,260
any way that I could. So a lot of set painting,
167
00:10:02,760 –> 00:10:06,416
consulting with directors and costumes, and just
168
00:10:06,448 –> 00:10:09,760
being involved in all the creative stuff. And so what I’ve come to
169
00:10:09,920 –> 00:10:13,760
believe is that a play is just a painting that
170
00:10:13,800 –> 00:10:17,560
moves. So when you’re designing a play, you’re thinking about
171
00:10:17,600 –> 00:10:21,336
the color and the lights, and it all comes together as a
172
00:10:21,368 –> 00:10:25,140
painting, but it moves and it changes. It has different moods,
173
00:10:25,470 –> 00:10:29,238
different acts, maybe different paintings. And so for me, that’s
174
00:10:29,254 –> 00:10:33,078
just a good way to think about theater. Of course, you have
175
00:10:33,094 –> 00:10:36,942
the elements of music and recitation of
176
00:10:36,966 –> 00:10:40,710
lines and an expression that informs
177
00:10:40,750 –> 00:10:44,598
that painting and makes that painting move and be alive. But
178
00:10:44,614 –> 00:10:48,382
for me, it’s a painting. There used to be, it looked like
179
00:10:48,406 –> 00:10:51,882
a live painting that people would dress up and
180
00:10:52,066 –> 00:10:55,882
on a stage, they would stage themselves as the painting, but they were
181
00:10:55,906 –> 00:10:59,522
real life people. Yes, I remember what that’s called. Yeah,
182
00:10:59,626 –> 00:11:03,218
we do one here where they retell the story of beauty and the
183
00:11:03,234 –> 00:11:06,954
beast, but instead of the people being turned into furniture,
184
00:11:07,082 –> 00:11:10,826
they’re frozen into paintings. And so you have
185
00:11:10,858 –> 00:11:14,690
scenes where there’s a frame and there’s actually people frozen in the paintings.
186
00:11:14,850 –> 00:11:18,376
And then at some point, they, like, take a breath and they step out of
187
00:11:18,408 –> 00:11:20,872
their frame and talk to you, and then they’re like, they have to get back
188
00:11:20,896 –> 00:11:24,664
into their frame. Oh, that’s so cool. That was a really fun stage
189
00:11:24,712 –> 00:11:27,832
to design because she wanted the whole stage to look like an art gallery. I’m
190
00:11:27,856 –> 00:11:30,888
like, I am on it. And so I painted a bunch of huge
191
00:11:30,944 –> 00:11:34,480
paintings. Three of them were empty. And then my husband designed this
192
00:11:34,520 –> 00:11:37,664
fake wall so that they could come in and out of their painting. But I
193
00:11:37,672 –> 00:11:41,344
got to do the whole rest of the stage as big paintings. So that was.
194
00:11:41,432 –> 00:11:45,040
That’s so cool. That was wonderful. And I love, sometimes I’ll teach set design classes
195
00:11:45,080 –> 00:11:48,736
there. And so it’s fun to, like, help budding artists
196
00:11:48,848 –> 00:11:52,336
get their hands on big paintings and teach them how to transfer
197
00:11:52,408 –> 00:11:55,304
some, a small design that they make into a two story
198
00:11:55,432 –> 00:11:58,960
mural. Yeah. So that’s a really fun way for
199
00:11:59,000 –> 00:12:02,816
artists to get involved in theater or your theater, you know, your
200
00:12:02,848 –> 00:12:06,608
theater people to get involved in art. It’s such a great marriage of all
201
00:12:06,624 –> 00:12:10,352
the arts, I think. Yes, yes. So very cool. Let’s
202
00:12:10,376 –> 00:12:11,820
take a break. We’ll be right back.
203
00:13:21,750 –> 00:13:25,574
We are back with Courtney. Before the break, we were talking, of course,
204
00:13:25,622 –> 00:13:28,810
about sculpture, and then we talked a little bit about theater.
205
00:13:29,500 –> 00:13:33,200
A lot of places in this country now have
206
00:13:33,740 –> 00:13:37,348
oftentimes christian theater groups, homeschool
207
00:13:37,404 –> 00:13:41,116
groups, which I think are really exciting because it’s getting those kids who
208
00:13:41,148 –> 00:13:44,764
really are theatrical, or maybe they’re dancers. Like you said, there’s a lot of
209
00:13:44,812 –> 00:13:48,356
christian dance companies, things like that, where people, kids are being able to use those
210
00:13:48,388 –> 00:13:52,108
talents that they have and express themselves in that way. And
211
00:13:52,124 –> 00:13:55,778
so I think that’s really fun. And most of most
212
00:13:55,874 –> 00:13:59,710
big cities and towns that I’m aware of have
213
00:14:00,010 –> 00:14:03,554
some opportunity for kids to be able to get involved in those
214
00:14:03,602 –> 00:14:07,162
things. Of course, one that we’ve been strongly
215
00:14:07,186 –> 00:14:10,746
involved in is the christian film industry. Of course, we made a movie, schoolhouse
216
00:14:10,778 –> 00:14:14,522
rocked the homeschool revolution. And for several years, we
217
00:14:14,546 –> 00:14:17,858
went to the Christian Worldview Film Festival, which was
218
00:14:17,954 –> 00:14:21,714
amazing. We absolutely loved it. It’s put on by the Kendrick brothers and several
219
00:14:21,762 –> 00:14:24,948
other Mendenna. And it is such a great
220
00:14:25,124 –> 00:14:28,932
opportunity for kids to get involved in the world of
221
00:14:28,996 –> 00:14:32,836
film. As a matter of fact, when you go to the film festival, there
222
00:14:32,868 –> 00:14:36,628
are many, many families. I don’t know that I
223
00:14:36,644 –> 00:14:39,532
should say more than half, but it feels like more than half the families there
224
00:14:39,556 –> 00:14:42,932
are homeschool families, and they go, like, the whole family goes. And so you’ve
225
00:14:42,956 –> 00:14:46,428
got all the way from babies up through teenagers and young
226
00:14:46,484 –> 00:14:49,940
adults, and they go as families, and they’re learning about the art of
227
00:14:49,980 –> 00:14:53,372
filmmaking. And the thing that I love most about it
228
00:14:53,436 –> 00:14:56,836
and really about anything that we do with
229
00:14:56,948 –> 00:15:00,772
art is, again, using those gifts and talents that
230
00:15:00,796 –> 00:15:04,588
God has given us for his glory. And so, you
231
00:15:04,604 –> 00:15:07,916
know, I think our audience, a lot of them know our story that we’re from
232
00:15:07,948 –> 00:15:11,460
Los Angeles. My husband worked in the Hollywood film industry for many,
233
00:15:11,500 –> 00:15:14,916
many years, and he loved the art of film,
234
00:15:15,068 –> 00:15:18,908
but he hated the industry that he was in because he was like, I’m working
235
00:15:18,964 –> 00:15:22,668
in an industry that I don’t even believe in. Like, we don’t even have tv.
236
00:15:22,844 –> 00:15:26,500
We rarely go to the movies. And he, he just
237
00:15:26,580 –> 00:15:30,252
didn’t, he didn’t like, the product that he
238
00:15:30,276 –> 00:15:33,916
was producing. And, um. And so the Lord
239
00:15:33,948 –> 00:15:37,644
brought us into the world of christian film, and we have absolutely
240
00:15:37,732 –> 00:15:41,556
loved it. And I know there are a lot of really cheesy christian films,
241
00:15:41,588 –> 00:15:45,316
and some of the films that call themselves christian films are not actually
242
00:15:45,388 –> 00:15:48,740
christian films. There have been some that we’ve been just deeply
243
00:15:48,780 –> 00:15:51,612
disappointed in. They’ll put that christian label on it, and then we watch it. We’re
244
00:15:51,636 –> 00:15:55,026
like, that wasn’t christian at all. What were they
245
00:15:55,058 –> 00:15:58,610
thinking? But there are some really good christian
246
00:15:58,650 –> 00:16:01,858
films out there as well. And so, like anything else, you know, you have to
247
00:16:01,874 –> 00:16:05,466
be particular about what you watch. But when you go to the
248
00:16:05,538 –> 00:16:08,946
Christian Worldview Film Festival, for those of you who have kids who are
249
00:16:08,978 –> 00:16:12,226
interested in film, whether it’s
250
00:16:12,378 –> 00:16:16,138
makeup or set design or, you know, they want to be a location
251
00:16:16,194 –> 00:16:20,028
scout or a producer or a director or a lighting guy or,
252
00:16:20,124 –> 00:16:22,400
you know, the camera guy, whatever it is,
253
00:16:23,420 –> 00:16:27,172
the Christian Worldview Film Festival, they’ve got people who work
254
00:16:27,196 –> 00:16:30,996
in every part of christian film, and, you know,
255
00:16:31,108 –> 00:16:34,284
actors, they’ve got it all. And so it’s really fun to go and be in
256
00:16:34,292 –> 00:16:37,892
the presence of other Christians who are working in that same
257
00:16:38,076 –> 00:16:41,788
field of christian filmmaking. And so I recommend going to
258
00:16:41,804 –> 00:16:45,268
the film festival. Typically, I think it’s been in the
259
00:16:45,324 –> 00:16:49,080
springtime, and they kind of move around. The last few years, they’ve
260
00:16:49,120 –> 00:16:52,648
been in Georgia, where the Kendricks
261
00:16:52,704 –> 00:16:55,940
live. They’ve hosted it at their church, I think,
262
00:16:56,760 –> 00:17:00,408
and so look it up. We’ll put a link to it. Christian Worldview Film Festival.
263
00:17:00,464 –> 00:17:04,192
But for those of you who have kids who are interested in film,
264
00:17:04,376 –> 00:17:07,832
go with them, if you can, and spend a week going
265
00:17:07,896 –> 00:17:11,672
to the festival, going to the guild beforehand, which
266
00:17:11,696 –> 00:17:15,184
is all the instruction and training and classes and networking and meeting
267
00:17:15,232 –> 00:17:18,648
people. And it’s just a really fun way to develop
268
00:17:18,784 –> 00:17:22,608
that art of filmmaking in your kids, whether they’re the ones behind the
269
00:17:22,624 –> 00:17:25,900
camera or in front of the camera or, you know, any of the support
270
00:17:26,520 –> 00:17:30,184
that comes with making good christian films. So
271
00:17:30,272 –> 00:17:33,880
I think we need more people in the christian film world who are
272
00:17:33,920 –> 00:17:37,540
really serious about the gospel and serious about
273
00:17:38,240 –> 00:17:42,080
getting the gospel message into people’s hands. It’s a great way to do that.
274
00:17:42,120 –> 00:17:45,954
So, um, anyway. Okay, so that. That’s.
275
00:17:46,002 –> 00:17:49,466
That’s it. On. On film. Um, I have one last question
276
00:17:49,618 –> 00:17:53,450
for Courtney. Courtney, I know that one thing that was really important for
277
00:17:53,490 –> 00:17:57,050
you, um, in your homeschool, you’ve graduated all of your kids,
278
00:17:57,210 –> 00:18:00,874
but that your husband’s involvement, um, and your homeschooling was a really
279
00:18:00,922 –> 00:18:04,746
important part of your journey. Talk about that for the last few minutes. Yeah,
280
00:18:04,818 –> 00:18:08,602
I have to give him a lot of the credit for it. Um, one
281
00:18:08,626 –> 00:18:12,266
of the things that he did, starting very early on, actually started doing this
282
00:18:12,298 –> 00:18:16,126
before the kids were homeschool. Age was he
283
00:18:16,158 –> 00:18:19,590
started reading aloud to them probably at birth. And my
284
00:18:19,630 –> 00:18:23,174
son was not a fan of going to sleep. He would fight it. And
285
00:18:23,222 –> 00:18:26,862
so my husband, it was kind of a battle of wills. My husband was like,
286
00:18:26,886 –> 00:18:29,502
I’m going to read to him until he goes to sleep. And my son was
287
00:18:29,526 –> 00:18:32,966
like, I’m going to stay up all night. And so this battle of wills
288
00:18:32,998 –> 00:18:36,278
resulted in them reading tons and tons of literature.
289
00:18:36,454 –> 00:18:40,246
And this lasted for a long time. So he read aloud, and I think that,
290
00:18:40,278 –> 00:18:43,654
that really, I’m sure Andrew Pudois talks about this, too.
291
00:18:43,742 –> 00:18:47,422
Yes. Hearing language read aloud really
292
00:18:47,566 –> 00:18:51,230
makes a kid smart. And two, having that time with
293
00:18:51,270 –> 00:18:54,750
their dad, I think, is really important. So it saved my sanity to know
294
00:18:54,790 –> 00:18:58,470
that in the evenings I could go
295
00:18:58,550 –> 00:19:02,206
take a bath or just do something all by myself. And he’d be reading
296
00:19:02,238 –> 00:19:05,998
aloud to the kids, and that was an extension of our
297
00:19:06,014 –> 00:19:09,494
homeschool. Now, he wouldn’t let me pick the books, which made me sad
298
00:19:09,622 –> 00:19:13,422
because I really love to integrate everything, and I would have loved
299
00:19:13,446 –> 00:19:17,118
to have them read, like, something related to what we were doing in history.
300
00:19:17,174 –> 00:19:19,686
But my husband really did not like that. He did not want to be told
301
00:19:19,718 –> 00:19:23,126
what to do. And so I think for moms who are listening, I think the
302
00:19:23,158 –> 00:19:25,918
best advice I can give you is don’t try to tell your husband what to
303
00:19:25,934 –> 00:19:29,558
do, but let him pick the book.
304
00:19:29,614 –> 00:19:32,970
It’s totally up to him what he wanted to read. He picked the book
305
00:19:33,470 –> 00:19:36,926
and he read it so he would not read anything where the dad died.
306
00:19:37,038 –> 00:19:40,290
So, like, the little princess hated that. Yeah.
307
00:19:40,830 –> 00:19:44,330
I love that mom dies. It’s okay. So Disney. Oh, gosh.
308
00:19:45,630 –> 00:19:49,410
Not. Just kidding. Not really. Dad’s always the hero, as he should
309
00:19:49,450 –> 00:19:53,242
be. Yeah. So he did. He would read aloud, and I enjoyed listening from
310
00:19:53,266 –> 00:19:56,770
the other room. Like, he would even read Junie B. Jones. And I can remember,
311
00:19:56,810 –> 00:20:00,122
we can both remember he read one, the one where
312
00:20:00,186 –> 00:20:03,434
she, she colors on their. Grab their white graduation
313
00:20:03,522 –> 00:20:07,178
gowns. You know it’s going to happen. You know, she’s going to color on all
314
00:20:07,194 –> 00:20:11,026
of them. And so, you know it’s coming, and we’re just laughing and crying and
315
00:20:11,058 –> 00:20:14,658
listening to these books together. It was so much fun. Oh, that’s, you know, from
316
00:20:14,674 –> 00:20:18,058
Judy B. Jones to Lord of the Rings, he has read it all. Yeah. So
317
00:20:18,074 –> 00:20:20,818
he did that. And then the other thing that he does is he’s. He’s a
318
00:20:20,834 –> 00:20:24,530
super diy, which is really why we homeschooled. He was. He was, like,
319
00:20:24,570 –> 00:20:28,218
looking at the private school going, we could do that. Let’s do it
320
00:20:28,234 –> 00:20:31,562
ourselves. And so he was on board with homeschooling before I
321
00:20:31,586 –> 00:20:35,234
was. And then whenever we were doing anything,
322
00:20:35,282 –> 00:20:38,210
like, if I said, we’re gonna have a medieval feast at our house, he’ll say,
323
00:20:38,250 –> 00:20:41,810
okay, I’ll build the trebuchet. And so he and a couple other
324
00:20:41,850 –> 00:20:45,290
dads built, you know, a life size trebuchet, and they.
325
00:20:45,450 –> 00:20:49,058
They would launch pumpkins, and then they had to do computer simulations to make sure
326
00:20:49,074 –> 00:20:52,778
the pumpkins would go over the treetops. Yeah. And so the kids
327
00:20:52,834 –> 00:20:56,586
were all involved in that. And they’ve restored cars.
328
00:20:56,658 –> 00:21:00,426
They turned a bus into a camper. Wow. He’s taught
329
00:21:00,458 –> 00:21:04,130
them how to fix their cars and all kinds of stuff
330
00:21:04,170 –> 00:21:07,290
so that hands on stuff. With dad, they’ve built a da Vinci
331
00:21:07,330 –> 00:21:10,634
bridge. He did a lot of building at the theater.
332
00:21:10,722 –> 00:21:14,162
So he was always involved with them, teaching them how to
333
00:21:14,186 –> 00:21:17,950
build things, and just, you know, the idea that
334
00:21:18,890 –> 00:21:22,266
you can figure it out if you want to and we’ll figure it out together
335
00:21:22,458 –> 00:21:26,070
was huge for them. He also helped, too, when, like,
336
00:21:26,890 –> 00:21:30,482
if the boys were not really engaged in school, we’d sign them up for
337
00:21:30,506 –> 00:21:34,050
scuba classes. So he and the boys would take scuba
338
00:21:34,090 –> 00:21:37,822
classes. Um, my oldest son did it so much, at one point, he was the
339
00:21:37,846 –> 00:21:41,262
youngest certified Patty scuba instructor in the world.
340
00:21:41,406 –> 00:21:44,998
Oh, wow. And that’s what he did for his gap year. But it started
341
00:21:45,054 –> 00:21:48,382
off because he wasn’t giving math at all. And we’re like, you know what? In
342
00:21:48,406 –> 00:21:51,966
scuba, if you don’t do your math right, you die. So let’s put it in
343
00:21:51,998 –> 00:21:52,570
that
344
00:21:55,310 –> 00:21:58,598
school. So you can. You can put it in flight school. If you mess up
345
00:21:58,614 –> 00:22:02,458
your math, you die. And then they start to pay attention. So that’s kind
346
00:22:02,474 –> 00:22:06,170
of extremist, but, you know, you do what you got to do. Right,
347
00:22:06,210 –> 00:22:09,954
right. And you wouldn’t have let them die. They make sure that they know how
348
00:22:09,962 –> 00:22:13,802
to do their math before they do their math. We check the math. Yeah. No,
349
00:22:13,866 –> 00:22:17,482
no, no. Kids died in our home school. Yeah. Good. I’m so
350
00:22:17,506 –> 00:22:20,986
thankful for that. So. Well, that is so fun. I
351
00:22:21,018 –> 00:22:24,370
love that he was intentional about being involved. I think that more
352
00:22:24,410 –> 00:22:28,202
dads should be, and I think the reason that they often are
353
00:22:28,226 –> 00:22:31,810
not is because they don’t know that they’re needed. Um, and they just
354
00:22:31,850 –> 00:22:35,106
assume mom is doing everything. And maybe mom is not,
355
00:22:35,298 –> 00:22:39,138
um, intentional about asking him and just saying, hey, I really need your help. I
356
00:22:39,154 –> 00:22:43,002
could use your help with homeschooling because you. You think it’s only, you know,
357
00:22:43,026 –> 00:22:46,810
during the daytime hours, Monday through Friday, and oftentimes dad is at work during
358
00:22:46,850 –> 00:22:50,506
those hours. And so it just seems natural that, well, when dad comes home,
359
00:22:50,658 –> 00:22:54,146
school is done and he doesn’t need to have any participation in it.
360
00:22:54,178 –> 00:22:58,018
And in reality, it is a huge blessing when dads are part of
361
00:22:58,034 –> 00:23:01,692
the homeschool journey. And it’s good because they also build that relationship
362
00:23:01,826 –> 00:23:05,456
with their kids. Like your dad has done. Not your dad, your husband has done
363
00:23:05,608 –> 00:23:09,272
with your kids. Yeah, it sure is. And then, you know, the
364
00:23:09,296 –> 00:23:12,824
evenings and being free to pick the book, those are the key to our
365
00:23:12,872 –> 00:23:16,504
success, I think. Yes. Yep. Yeah. So fun. Well, Courtney,
366
00:23:16,552 –> 00:23:19,808
thank you so much for being with us this week. It’s been a true pleasure
367
00:23:19,864 –> 00:23:23,288
to be able to chat with you. Tell our audience one more time where they
368
00:23:23,304 –> 00:23:26,896
can find out more about the delightful art co and all of your books and
369
00:23:26,928 –> 00:23:29,884
your classes, your resources that you have. Go to
370
00:23:29,972 –> 00:23:34,012
www.delightfulartco.com
371
00:23:34,196 –> 00:23:37,972
and on the front page you’ll see live classes and that’ll show you all
372
00:23:37,996 –> 00:23:41,580
the classes that you can do live on Zoom. And then you can
373
00:23:41,620 –> 00:23:45,420
also find self paced classes, which are recordings, usually of
374
00:23:45,460 –> 00:23:49,156
me, and it’ll be a set.
375
00:23:49,228 –> 00:23:52,396
We have different size sets. You can do a short run, see if you like
376
00:23:52,428 –> 00:23:56,266
it. And then if you go to our shop, we have
377
00:23:56,458 –> 00:23:59,994
books, so you can use the books at home, give you ideas.
378
00:24:00,162 –> 00:24:03,586
Once you go through one of the books, you’ll probably be making up your own
379
00:24:03,618 –> 00:24:07,114
art lessons and integrating art into different subjects.
380
00:24:07,282 –> 00:24:10,978
It’s just been magical to see how art makes another
381
00:24:11,034 –> 00:24:14,490
subject more memorable, more engaging and more
382
00:24:14,530 –> 00:24:18,242
contemplative. Yep. I love it. Thank you so much for being
383
00:24:18,266 –> 00:24:21,586
with us. And thank you guys for being with us this week. Thank you for
384
00:24:21,618 –> 00:24:25,278
listening and joining Courtney and myself. It’s been a fun conversation.
385
00:24:25,434 –> 00:24:28,502
We love you guys. If there’s any way we can be praying for you, please
386
00:24:28,606 –> 00:24:32,406
let us know. You know, we sent out an email. We send out emails,
387
00:24:32,438 –> 00:24:35,838
you know, every few weeks, and we sent one out several weeks ago. And it
388
00:24:35,854 –> 00:24:38,974
was in regards to the hurricanes that had come through North Carolina, which, by the
389
00:24:38,982 –> 00:24:42,822
way, Courtney is in North Carolina. By God’s grace. She did not
390
00:24:42,846 –> 00:24:46,342
get hit by the hurricane. It was a few hours from her. But we
391
00:24:46,366 –> 00:24:49,918
know that several of you have been affected by those
392
00:24:49,974 –> 00:24:53,584
things. And so we heard from you and it’s been so exciting to hear from
393
00:24:53,632 –> 00:24:57,240
you, and you’ve sent us emails just saying, here’s our situation with our families.
394
00:24:57,360 –> 00:25:00,272
Please pray for us. And I want you to know that we are doing that.
395
00:25:00,296 –> 00:25:03,312
We have been praying for you, and we will continue to do that. So if
396
00:25:03,336 –> 00:25:06,656
there’s any way that we can be praying for your family, no matter what the
397
00:25:06,688 –> 00:25:09,952
situation is, we would love to be able to do that. It is truly an
398
00:25:09,976 –> 00:25:11,960
honor. So you can send us an email at
399
00:25:12,000 –> 00:25:15,768
podcast@schoolhouserocked.com we love you
400
00:25:15,784 –> 00:25:18,496
guys so much. We are so grateful for you. Have a great rest of your
401
00:25:18,528 –> 00:25:20,800
week, and we will see you back here on Monday. Bye.