Sometimes it takes us four hours to watch a fifty-eight minute video. And sometimes that's the best possible way to watch one.
On Thursday, my youngest son saw a picture of a stained glass window and wanted to know why when he saw that type of window it was always in a church so I did my best to explain how the windows were used to explain the stories of the Bible back in the days when most people couldn't read. And then we found a documentary because I can only rattle off so much art history without looking things up and, although I know exactly where to find the stained glass explanations in our packaged curriculum, I thought a video would be better.
It was. In addition to learning why the windows are there, we got to see reproduction glass being made and learn about the restoration process and how much of it involves fixing earlier "fixes." Along the way, we paused the movie to discuss Gutenberg and how stained glass was around long before oil paints and whether or not they should be taking the windows apart and putting them back together or they should leave them the way they were and looked at pictures of the Sistine Chapel before and after its restoration. And that's what I love best about homeschooling. We have time to explore rabbit trails and stop to look things up.
Today we're talking about Mitochondrial Eve. I'll definitely need a documentary to explain that one!
There are examples of non-religious stained glass in domestic architecture all over the world. In the US, I would be looking for examples by Frank Lloyd Wright and perhaps Tiffany. I also have the feeling that I saw some in an historic home in Georgia but cannot recall where!
ReplyDeleteA (late) friend her in the UK, had a stained glass under-water scene made for her to use in her the window of a ground floor bathroom. So much nicer than the normal opaque glass.
Love it when a questions inspires investigation. I'm off to check the dictionary right now ... hmmm, mitochondrial eve ...
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly one of the reasons why I loved homeschooling! I learned so much along the way!
ReplyDeleteThis was so interesting to me and wish that I could be a student even now in your homeschooling classroom. You are never too old to learn new things. Especially things that were not learned at all when we were young. Your children are so very lucky to have such a talented and smart mother to teach them. They will be the leaders of our future because they had a caring education and better than normal exposure to many diverse things around them. God Bless you for teaching them and us more about things.
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