Should I make my boys have art?

[kgreenaz]

I have three boys. Last year I put my two older boys (ages 7 & 8) in a Young Rembrandts class. They did amazing work due to the class. But they HATED it and didn't want to do it again. Mostly because they didn't like to sit still for an hour to draw.

 

I have really been considering Artistic Pursuits K-3 for 3rd grade next year but I'm torn. I don't really like art myself and I would do this because I think that I "should" or "have to."

 

We have about seven of the Draw Write Now books and journals and I make them do that but we're moving on to cursive so I suppose that I could continue to make them draw and then write the sentences in cursive for next year. They also have nature journals and I have them sit outside and draw what they see. They seem to enjoy that.

 

But none of this is "formal" art history or instruction.

 

What do you think? Should I "make" them do some art or is this something that I can drop knowing that it's not their cup of tea and that they don't enjoy it? I could put them in a pottery class which they might enjoy because it's physical. We'll be doing a lot of crafts next year with American history.

 

They only occasionally draw and color on their own time although they are doing it more often now because they are starting to be inspired by things that they want to draw, like horses or war scenes or Star Wars. Sigh. : D

 

Thank you! Kim

Edited April 25, 2010 by kgreenaz

[Sunshine State Sue]

I think that it is important to do something in the fine arts area: music, drawing, sculpture, drama, etc. Ds would do none of it if it was up to him. He started off with KinderMusik at 6.5, graduated to piano lessons at 8.5, changed to guitar at 12.5. When he complained about piano, I told him that he didn't have to do piano, but he had to do something in the fine arts area. He got to choose. Eventually, he chose to try electric guitar. When he asks how long he has to play guitar, I tell him until he gets a job or moves out. To me, it's part of his education. This year, he is taking a history class online that includes a day of history through art, where they study a painting about a historical event. I am thrilled. :D

[Guest]

I think you're on to something when you mention a more physical art class like pottery. It's worth looking around your area to see whether any museums offer free or cheap classes for kids. For years my daughter went to a free Family Day at our local museum of contemporary art, where the projects were NOT conventional. She painted with chocolate from a Hershey's squirt bottle, splatter-painted furniture, built with rocks and moss, made temporary "installation art" with string, yarn, and floss, used rolls of colored tape to make geometric art, wrapped objects (miniature versions of Christo art) and guessed what objects other kids had wrapped, hammered together sculptures made from junk (wood bits, old metal cookie cutters, pieces of mirrors and tile,etc.). The projects were really wonderful and were usually linked to one of the exhibits at the museum.

 

Our nearby university also has a series of outdoor installation art that we've visited a number of times over the years, including a big angular reproduction of Stonehenge, and some trees covered in metal with radio antenna inside, so they pipe newscasts and music. Along the harborfront are a series of metal and wood trees in different styles. At our natural history museum there was a huge outdoor display of eight-foot high globes various artists had designed and decorated with various Earth Day themes. All these kinds of things are walk-around, many are outdoors... there's no need to sit at a table for all things artistic.

 

Our historical art museum had cheap classes on things like print-making, which involved more movement around various stations in a big room rather than sitting in one spot over a piece of paper.

[MaMa2005]

Starting in the Fall, each Friday DS will be enrolled in a program that runs for four hours and exposes him to the Arts. (The program is actually called HeARTS). He will be getting theater, group keyboarding, watercolors and something else (can't think of it now:confused:). I know it will be easier for him to experience these things as taught by others as he is definitely not an artsy type of guy. I am hoping he won't hate it.

[Suzannah]

Perhaps this will help. Every year I have grand designs of doing drawing, art appreciation, and music appreciation. Every year it's more of a hit and miss kind of thing...missing much more frequently than we hit. I finally had a brainwave last week. We'll do them as "short-term electives."

 

We can usually manage a set, short amount of time on anything, but during the course of an entire school year it gets pushed aside and never finished. So I made a list of a dozen or so topics (including classes at the Rec. Center and science that would be separate from our regular science study) that we might do in a 4, 6 or 8-week time frame such as art, health, woodworking, Airplane study, dance class, technical drawing, home maintenance, swimming, etc. I gave the list to my two school-aged kids and asked them to rank them in order from most to least interesting. I made sure they understand that we won't necessarily do their first choices, but it gives me an idea of where their interests lie before I drop spend any money.

 

This I think we can do. It alleviates my guilt for not getting to all this stuff before, but doesn't put an undo burden on me to spend a whole year or even a semester.

[catz]

I struggle with this as well. My 9 yo son never has liked to "do art". He has taken piano since he was 5 and we do have that. Last summer and this summer, I have signed him up for a 1 week intensive art camp. We are in an urban area and each day he goes somewhere different (i.e. one day at modern art museum, one day at a studio that does hand made books, one day at a dance studio, one day at a printing press, etc). I actually found a different version for him this year than last year. Every day he was taught by some people very passionate about their craft and did a real project he got to bring home in 8 hours time. And he ended up loving it. So I feel like he is definitely getting some base and appreciation for artists.

 

We were lucky enough to have a local homeschooler start a once a month art club where she introduces an artist and period, and then the kids go on to try it out. We also hit our local art museums when whenever we can. But we don't have a set "art" curriculum. My 5 yo daughter invents her own arts and crafts!

 

Anyway, I totally think it's fine to approach it where they're interested. My son is very excited to spend a day on pottery this summer too. :001_smile: If they like pottery, you can find info on pottery throughout history in many books too.

[NanceXToo]

At their ages, they don't need formal art history or instruction in my opinion. I'd let them just have fun exploring with different art media. Maybe do a field trip to an art museum or gallery. Maybe sneak in some coloring pages by famous artists or coffee table type books to flip through if interested. Maybe encourage them to submit artwork to children's or homeschool magazines. Maybe look for a different TYPE of art class to sign them up for.

 

We have a Council for the Arts society in our town that does summer art classes and camps each summer.

 

Last year my 9 y/o daughter took a drawing and painting class, which she really loved. Your boys didn't, but they probably offer other types of art classes, too. Like here they will do theater, music, "art to eat," pottery, sculpture and so on.

[robsiew]

I struggle with getting art in as I don't love it. My boys can take it or leave it (one of them would just leave it if he could!). My dd does enjoy it.

 

If you go with a "curriculum" (which I do basically because we don't have the money for outside things right now) I think your idea of Artistic Pursuits is a good one. We've used that this year and while some people don't like it because it's "too open ended" that's why I like it. I don't feel like I have to master anything before teaching it and my kids don't feel like they have to produce something they can't. I have one who may dabble in art, but the rest of the kids show no affinity for it. The lessons are short, used varied materials (which my kids love because we only use them at art time so they are special) and it includes "kid art" alongside the master artist's work so that they can see they don't have to perform at the level of the master artist studied. The amount of art history is good to get a taste, but not too much to overwhelm. So, basically I'm just confirming from my own experience your choice of AP if you go that route. And, yes... I do it because I feel I have to! :001_huh:

[Susie in CA]

Your boys are still young. You may want to look at Barb's Harmony Fine Arts Program. I think year 3 includes a book called 'Science Art'. The projects in this book are very easy to do. They are quick and offer a little Science on the side. My boys loved these projects at that age.

 

I agree, on the clay idea. Both my boys have always loved clay projects. These are the ones we always do from SOTW Activity Guide.

 

Susie

[HSMom2One]

Hi there. I have replied to this question in the past and am going to repeat my message because, as you can tell, I am a strong advocate for including art in education. Along with being a hs parent, I am an artist and also teach elementary and secondary art at a private classical Christian school.

 

How important is art for children that are not enthused about the subject? If your children are not interested in PE, grammar, or history do you insist that they have it anyway? Of course you do. We have to do our best to expose and teach our children a variety of important subjects whether they want it or not.

 

In my humble opinion, art is under valued and under appreciated in our culture --and that is a sad thing. This subject gets pushed aside so often, or relegated to the bottom of the list. Art may not be your child's "thing", but it is enriching and important for them. Additionally, your children should have a better understanding and appreciation of the giftings of others. They should be familiar with art vocabulary, terms, techniques and the names of artists as a part of their overall education.

 

I have learned that if I am passionate about a subject that I teach, I find that it is more interesting to my students. If art is also not your "thing" and you teach the subject, it may come across to the children you teach and they (in turn) may not be as interested in it either. I don't know if this is the case with you and your children, but it may be worth consideration. Maybe its time to find another person, one that really loves art, to become your dc's art teacher. I have personally seen previously uninterested students suddenly "wake up" and become engrossed in a project simply because I presented it to them in an appealing way in class. The secret was that I really loved the subject I was teaching, and they caught on and ran with it.

 

Art is all around us. It is closely, closely connected to the study of culture and history. Even young children need to begin to appreciate these concepts. Art is a valuable subject within the realm of any education, just as music, logic, Latin, etc. Teaching art to young children is especially important because they are less likely to developed a negative attitude about it, and because they are much more free and open minded, willing to learn new things.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

 

[Colleen in NS]

Mostly because they didn't like to sit still for an hour to draw.

 

They also have nature journals and I have them sit outside and draw what they see. They seem to enjoy that.

 

But none of this is "formal" art history or instruction.

 

They only occasionally draw and color on their own time although they are doing it more often now because they are starting to be inspired by things that they want to draw, like horses or war scenes or Star Wars. Sigh. : D

 

I vote for continuing to teach art skills. :D

 

The WTM helped me to understand that art skills can be broken down into drawing, painting, and sculpting (which I believe could include pottery). And each one builds on the previous. And I believe crafts is a different discipline than art skills - to me, crafts is about making useful objects (although many things could cross that line - pottery could be sculpting, but it's also making a useful bowl, and you could also paint that bowl, which would then be art, but I digress...).

 

I started teaching drawing (having had no experience) using a drawing book, and found that drawing is not so much about producing perfect pictures, but about learning to "see" our environment in more detailed ways. Practicing drawing helps us to notice things more, by practicing "seeing." So, the skills you learn through drawing lessons are applicable to many other areas like science study, reading books, reading body language/communicating, learning how to play an instrument, etc.. It's yet another way of learning to pay closer attention to something. So maybe if you think of it as a useful skill to learn, it might inspire you to carry on.

 

You indicated twice that they do like drawing in some instances, but not when they had to sit still for an hour in a class. Maybe try doing lessons for 15 minutes - a half hour at a time, once a week. Focus on teaching them skills, not so much completing a picture during that time. They can work on the picture each week, or on their own time if they want. After you go through some basic drawing skills, you could let them practice these skills in other areas - in their nature journals, or science experiments, or whatever. Of course, they are young and don't really *need* to do this extra stuff right now, but I do think that teaching some skills now could come in handy later on.

 

As for art history, you could just include this in history study time. Pick out artists you want to read about, read them to the kids, look at the paintings, do a picture study to notice details, write up a narration (about the artist, not about the painting), and call it done. It's easy.

 

I haven't finished the drawing book we started a few years ago - it does keep getting pushed down the priority list, but I do try to get to it or at least have my kids practice skills they have already learned, at least once or twice a month. My son doesn't love drawing lessons, but he can confidently make a detailed drawing for his science study now. My daughter LOVES all things arty, so she does draw on her own time. But I consider art skills to be somewhat academic skills, so I *try* to fit them in as much as I can.

 

hth

[Caraway]

Sitting outside and drawing what they see is great! It is really hard to just sit and draw. You have to think of what to draw, how to draw it, and then the actual drawing. It is sort of like SWB's explanation about why you shouldn't ask little kids to do creative writing. Let them draw for 15 min, run around for 15 min exploring, then draw again - perhaps something cool they found while running around.

 

There is a difference between doing art and learning about art. So I think that first you have to decide which it is that you want to do, or both.

 

There is a lot more to art than drawing. I am very artistic, but it would never occur to me to just sit and draw, it's not my thing. There is also watercolors, pastels, ink, oil painting, printmaking, photography, etc...

 

If you extend to "craft" you get even more options - weaving, knitting, embroidery, carpentry, pottery, sculpture, mixed media.

 

I think that art is good - learning about it AND doing it. But I don't think that means forcing an uninterested boy to sit an draw for an hour. ;)

[kgreenaz]

Thank you for all the wonderful opinions. I have signed up for pottery classes every other week. One week is working with the clay and in two weeks we go back for glazing. The mommies get to bring wine and throw on the wheel so you see where I'm going. :lol: We had a gal come to teach the kids once per week last year. Each week she taught them a different medium. They loved it. I forgot about that. There is even a h.s. art teacher who will come to your home if you have a co-op and teach the group. I need to call him.

 

I am also going to try the Phonics of Art and trying to put together a co-op so that they can do this together.

 

I already take them to art museums so I'll just step it up a little more. Because, as I know nothing about art, I need someone else to show my children (and me!) what to appreciate.

 

I can't tell me how much your replies mean to me. Really impassioned and from a perspective that I've never heard. And you're all right, I do need to do it but in a way that will teach to their strengths and not their weaknesses. And expose them to an area that they won't be naturally exposed to. And to realize, when they struggle with it, how gifted others can be in art.

 

THANK YOU so much, Moms! I see art in our future now!!

 

Warm regards and God bless you all! Kim

[HSMom2One]

Kim, your response and openness to consider these things for your dc just warms my heart. God bless you as you and your pursue these wonderful activities. Enjoy it all!

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

 

P.S. I really like the art class idea. I, myself, teach a class once a week for hs students. I bring all supplies to a home where the group gathers and we have a wonderful time learning about artists, techniques in various mediums. I wish I lived near you so I could invite your dc to my class. :~)

[kgreenaz]

P.S. I really like the art class idea. I, myself, teach a class once a week for hs students. I bring all supplies to a home where the group gathers and we have a wonderful time learning about artists, techniques in various mediums. I wish I lived near you so I could invite your dc to my class. :~)

 

Yes, Oregon is a long way away. I'm from Seattle so I know the drive! But if you're ever in AZ....send me an email and we can tour the art museums together!

 

Thank you again for your passion and for sharing it with me. I know darn well that there are times when we're too tired to write the same thing down again. It takes a lot to post like that. May God richly bless you and your family in all that you do.

 

(((Lucinda))) xo Kim

[Colleen in NS]

Because, as I know nothing about art, I need someone else to show my children (and me!) what to appreciate.

 

Do you have First Language Lessons for grammar study? There are lessons in it on picture study.

 

Or, here is a post on picture study, with questions. You could use the first group or two of questions for their ages. When they get older, you could get into the analytical questions, and in high school, the evaluation questions. It looks like a huge list of questions (even the first couple of sets), but I would just *casually* use them to start directing your and their thinking when you are at museums or looking at paintings/sculptures in books. As for me, I'd have to read them thoroughly to myself at first and figure out specific ways to casually insert them into conversation with young kids, LOL. But they are great questions. And this coming from a woman who used to think art appreciation was for die-hard artists and for people who loved looking through old dusty books (well, I like doing that now, too). :lol: