Homeschooling Classes - Woodworking, Music, Art, Handwork

We are very excited about our upcoming homeschooling classes in Davis, CA! Winter term begins January 26, 2016. Registration is available online at www.wholisticlearningresources.net. 

We also travel and teach workshops for homeschooling groups, parents and teachers! Contact us for more information on scheduling workshops near you.

Learning Anatomy Through Art

Learn the cross-hatching technique as you draw muscles and bones of the human body! Dr. Rick Tan shows you how in a video available in our Etsy shop and at the Bearth Institute.

Appropriate for grade 8 Waldorf on up, although artists, homeschoolers, and those interested in anatomy will enjoy it at a variety of ages. The picture featured here is from our 8th grade daughter, Joey.

Birth Photos and Art

Pregnancy and birth are a journey to remember.  This pregnancy, we are taking a lot of pictures and forming a baby book from 5 weeks pregnancy, on. 

5 Weeks

18 Weeks

Part of the baby book will feature artwork.  What do we think of when we say, "pregnant", "baby", "birth"?  Each person in the family has a different outlook -- a personal interpretation of what this special time means for us.


39-40 Weeks

Each of us created a piece of artwork by drawing over the past couple of months.  Once the baby is born, we will do this again.  It is fascinating to see the differences in the styles, medium choices and content. 

We look forward to including these beautiful pieces of artwork in the baby's book after she is born!

Wilson's Birth Art - Colored Pencils

Joey's Birth Art - Colored Pencils

Ricky's Birth Art - Pencil

Jennifer's Birth Art - Block Crayons

Rick's Birth Art - Oil Pastels

Easter - Geometry - German

We recently explored artistic geometry while learning about Easter symbols.  Labeling the forms with German words helped us learn new German vocabulary.

Sun and Cross

Egg Shape and Cross

Homemade Botany Books

Separate from our science main lesson books this past school year, Ricky, Joey and Wilson each made their own Botany Books.

We tore pieces of watercolor paper and used Stockmar watercolors to design our covers. Mommy cut some white paper to fit the books and punched two holes at the top of them.

We each made a "twizzler" out of yarn and tied the tops of the books.

The botany books contain a table of contents, sketches of plants from our yard and the UC Davis arboretum, names of plants, and poems/quotes about plants.

We observed the apple tree in our backyard all year. Once per month we sketched the same branch. Finally, there are little apples this month!

The bulbs we planted at a homeschooling bulb planting clinic in October bloomed throughout the spring. We sketched some of our bulbs as they grew.

We will continue to add sketches, information and poems to our botany books as we explore our new yard.

Freehand Artistic Geometry

Ricky, Joey and Mommy have been doing artistic geometry drawings once a week this year. Making shapes out of circles, using a compass and protractor, and measuring with rulers have all been important.

This month, we are trying something new! Instead of using drawing tools, we have been doing our geometry "freehand". First, we started off with drawing angles. After completing our angle examples, we checked with a protractor and realized that we were pretty close! Next, we did some of the drawings from the book Artistic Geometry, such as the Hexagram, and 6 Circles from 1. Next, we will be drawing items from nature, such as shells and leaves.