The Children's Artwork

As usual, the kids are turning out artwork at a prolific rate. I let them draw during our "morning time": post-breakfast Bible and poetry reading, memory, recitation, and singing time. Clara likes to join in the fun, too, often handing me picture after picture "for Manna" or "for great-Manna." 

Here's one of Clara's (the circly-things with dots are people):

Josiah drew something of an abstract piece. I thought the teacup on the roof was an interesting addition:

He's also started drawing comics, after seeing some of the older boys at church do so:

Abby and Lydia like to write their names. (We can often easily identify a culprit who took a pen to a forbidden canvas.) Here's a picture Abby drew of members of our family (I believe Jeremy and I are sticking out our tongues?):

Josiah tried his hand at dinosaurs:

Lydia meticulously colored in each section of those ovals, and then decided the picture was for her little sister:

Both girls like using the Draw Write Now book we have to help them draw cute little animals (this one of rabbits is by Abby):

We got a new set of Crayola markers, which triggered some full-color pictures from Josiah. He's very much into Lego knight stuff right now (he looks at directions/pictures of castles, dungeons, carriages, etc. and comes up with his own design with the pieces he has), and we're also reading about early English history--including Arthur--so his pictures often have an ancient-warrior theme:

Lydia the animal-lover likes to draw animals:

 

That cow looks a little frightening, though...

The black things are birds

A farm scene from Abby (check out that pink barn):

And a last couple from Clara:

Homeschooling: Art Lessons

I've been using Mona Brooks' Drawing with Children to teach art to the kids. First we covered various exercises in using the elements of shape and analyzing and drawing designs.

One of Josiah's transitional worksheets--moving from just design/elements of shape 

to recognizable objects

In the last couple months I've moved onto some of her suggested projects: drawing a stylized lion and then a more realistic bird. She gives some good step-by-step instructions for talking kids through drawing the simplified animal shape, and then I've given them freedom to choose their colors to complete it.

My art students

Josiah has really taken off with his drawing in the last several months. He loves drawing war scenes on his own, usually involving characters modeled after whatever book we're currently reading (Narnia, The Green Ember, Robin Hood, etc.) But he seems to have an eye for detail and has latched onto these drawing lessons. He applies the analysis of elements of shape to his independent drawing, and it's fun to see him figure out how to draw a new animal, weapon, or whatever. Often he says, "Mom! I know how to draw rabbits [or bears, ducks, turtles, whatever]! Look, I do a circle here, little lines for whiskers, curved lines up for the ears, eyes go here . . ." etc. He even started drawing foreshortened circles for moats around castles--without any instruction or suggestion.

While he's an eager learner, he likes to jump ahead of our lesson steps when we're doing our "formal" art lesson time. He doesn't like to wait around for his sisters. Sometimes he also gets a little sloppy or inserts extra items that don't really fit the scene.

Josiah and Lydia

Lydia loves to do the drawing lessons, too, and has surprised me with her aptitude and good work. She is sometimes careless in handling her markers, though, and makes accidental swipes on her paper that cause much consternation. I've shown her how we can remedy mistakes like that by adding landscape details--tree branches, flowers, and such--or coloring over a small error. She gets a little too ambitious with her "fixing" sometimes, though, and ends up with a plethora of twigs all over the paper!

Lydia's drawing moods

While Lydia gets frustrated with her perceived inability at times--or with mistakes--she generally plugs away at following directions and has produced some nice drawings because of her perseverance. She also likes drawing independently (what Mona Brooks calls "symbolic drawings"--stick figures, mostly, that narrate a story), but is not as avid a drawer as Josiah.

Lydia's first completed drawing project: Leo the Lion

Josiah made multiple lion drawings after our initial lesson on Leo and ended up with a good one of a lion in a tree. He then wanted one on the ground, too--and he wanted it to look more realistic. So I looked up a picture of a lion online and stepped them through a shorter lesson to draw that. Lydia joined in as well, but Abby had given up in despair at a couple attempts at the original lion's eyes.

Abby has been my most challenging art student. She's perfectionistic but not as coordinated as the other two. (Where they naturally hold their pencil/marker properly, she still consistently grips it as a shovel.) She often falls apart when the lines she makes on paper don't match up with what she envisions. It's been a challenge to get her to even try--to attempt to follow directions without giving up on the second or third step. We've had lots of drama and tragedy: tears, drool, frustrated scribbling--the works. I've had to excuse her from the drawing lesson to look at books or play by herself a few times, because each step reignited the meltdown.

Abby

Lydia's second lion drawing

Our second project was birds. I love how all three kids' drawings turned out! Abby struggled and had to spend some time away from the drawing table, but she did finish a bird drawing and was mostly happy with it. I think she did a great job.

Lydia's parrot

 Abby did two birds!

We branched out from the book's scripted lessons and chose a monkey as our most recent drawing, with mixed results. I still followed Brooks' basic steps (starting with the eyes, moving out and paying attention to elements of shape, giving step-by-step instructions verbally) as I outlined the monkey on the whiteboard and the kids followed along. I should have chosen a better monkey model, and my demonstration on the whiteboard didn't exactly look good.

This was the first full lesson Abby completed without a meltdown; thus it was a real success in that sense! She and I discussed the lesson and the temptations that would beset her during it. We talked about saying "no" to tantrums and meltdowns, persevering even when she didn't like the look of a dot or line she made, etc. I stressed that she didn't have to like everything she drew, that we can often remedy mistakes, and that she'll only get better with practice. Anyway, she worked hard at self-control and was very pleased with her finished product (even though her monkey is perhaps a bit more porcine than primate).

Proud Abby

Lydia with her monkey holding a banana

Josiah trying to look like his monkey

Josiah's monkey (he's holding a banana with his dangling foot)

Abby's partially colored creature (it ended up being almost entirely pink)

I plan to continue using Drawing with Children to guide my art instruction this year and next. I really appreciate Brooks' method of training one's eye to see any subject in terms of the elements of shape. This approach has helped my kids gain confidence that they can draw just about any subject, and it has helped hone their observation and drawing skills. I also think the practice sheets (and ideas for producing your own) are worthwhile. Brooks' simplified line drawings of birds and other suggested projects helped me in demonstrating and teaching, and she outlines a good script for step-by-step instruction. Her inclusion of sample student drawings is helpful, but she includes an awful lot of them. She's also a bit wordy, spends a lot of time discussing her theory of teaching art, and doesn't organize the actual lesson parts in an easy-to-use manner. I wish she had more practice worksheets and step-by-step project drawings, as well as more (and more orderly) instruction on techniques.

I think I'll be supplementing this drawing book with others. I hope to purchase Drawing Textbook and may look into others. Eventually I'd like to branch out beyond drawing to painting and other mediums with the kids--we'll see when I work up the courage to do so! Meanwhile, at least we've made some headway with art.