Journal Beginnings 2026

      We have a goal this year to have our students write (or do something creative) in their journals every single day.  Now, keep in mind that I respect my students' privacy and won't share their writing here.  But, thus far this year they have written about what they learned during church sermons, what they appreciated about the Waldensians (yay Anabaptist history!), strange happenings during storms, getting locked out of their houses, and what they are looking forward to this year, among other things.  However, once a week we have a creative art journaling day, and I can share their artistic endeavors.  Here are some of my favorites.  

     We always decorate our journal covers during some of the first art classes of the year.  We evidently have some music lovers in this group.  

Perforations!  We passed around hole punchers and embroidery thread.  

Assignment: fold a page anyway you'd like to.  One had messages I could read depending on how I folded it, and another was folded and cut into neat symmetrical designs.   

Assignment:  trace your foot and decorate it.  

 

The 2026 Lancaster Music Camp

We had an absolutely WONDERFUL week at the Lancaster music camp and are already planning for next year's camp.  If you are interested in attending, please email us at office@musiccamp.info and we will be happy to send you more information.

The mass choir was directed by Brandon Mullet.  

Lots of hard work went on behind the scenes. 

Classes included rudiments, sight singing, class voice, leading group singing, elementary education, children's musical skills classes, and private voice lessons.  

And of course, we had choirs.  The children's choir was directed by Kristin Nolt. 

The Mass Choir was directed by Brandon Mullet.  

The Youth Choir was directed by Jeff Swanson.

Lee Weaver directed the adult mixed choir. 

And, we had a fabulous time.  Scroll to the bottom to see the results of the last event at our after party, the Amish vs. Mennonite volleyball game. 

The Amish defeated the Mennonites in this game, but we will have a rematch next year.  

If you would like more information on any of the Shenandoah Christian Music Camps, please visit musiccamp.info, or email us at office@musiccamp.info.

 

Styrofoam Block Prints

These were soooooo neat, but it was near the end of school and I didn't get enough photos.  So, here's how we did it.  I collected styrofoam trays from vegetables I had bought at the store.  These are usually a little thicker and work better than the thinner styrofoam dinner plates.  Then I made a slideshow (I share these if anyone is interested) to give the students lots of different ideas.  They sketched the one or two they chose onto paper.  

Next, they sketched them onto the styrofoam (after we had cut off the edges to make sure that it would lay flat), using a ballpoint pen.  The indentations are the white spaces that make the design.  (See the two examples below.)

The top one is different, though. The trick with this one was that after the student had made his sketch, he indented everything but the sketch, making it stick out from the styrofoam.  The result is really neat.  

After making a few trial runs, the students made repeated prints with their styrofoam blocks, blotting them on sponges brushed with acrylic paint.  

 

More Ideas for Your Art Classes

     This summer I'm also looking forward to Teachers Week at Faith Builders.  It's one of my favorite weeks of the year.  Last summer we completed the following projects in the art class.

* watercolor leaves with white crayon background patterns (we used real leaves - see photo #4) 

* mini wooden painted houses (made out of wood scraps I gleaned from a cabinet shop)

* Iris paper folding 

* 3D black popsicle geometric shapes 

*  bold, bright and colorful names (gleaned from Cassie Stevens)