Art classes

Of all the subjects that I've taught my kids, the two that are definitely NOT my forte are art and Spanish. I generally earned all A's on my report cards. If I had less than an "A" in a subject, it was almost always art or PE. If the PE teacher graded me on effort and sportsmanship, then I'd get an A. If the PE teacher graded my on ability, I'd usually get either an A-, B+, or B. Although I did teach Oliver how to ride his bike without training wheels and taught Nadia how to ski, for the most part I have delegated physical education instruction to others by signing the kids up for tennis lessons, swimming lessons, ice skating lessons, gymnastics classes, homeschool gym classes, and having them play on basketball teams, soccer teams, a softball team, and a flag football team. I took Spanish, German, and ASL when I was in middle school and high school. I did fine in those classes, but I forgot most of what I learned in Spanish and German and never was fluent in either language. I wish I had stuck with one language when I was in high school. Sometimes when I'm trying to speak in Spanish the first words that pop into my brain are in German. Trying to have the kids learn Spanish independently wasn't a successful approach. We've been using Talkbox.mom for a little less than two months, but I already feel much more confident that this approach will be far more successful, primarily because I am working on improving my ability to speak the language. 

We started our school year towards the end of August, but we didn't resume every subject right from the start. We didn't resume writing or typing until after we returned from our vacation earlier this month. The kids have been doing some very quick drawing exercises using Draw Write Now books, but that has been it thus far for art. I had included some multicultural crafts in my lesson plans, but thus far hadn't actually done any of them. In addition to not feeling very talented when it comes to arts/crafts, I also have an aversion to messes, and art or crafts can be messy! Ian spends a lot of time drawing each week of his own volition. He put a lot of time into his science assignment yesterday, which was to create a comic strip about Venus. Nadia and Ian had taken art at MCS the last three years, but due to COVID-19, I decided not to enroll them this fall since we didn't receive a refund for all the classes we paid for but didn't receive from March-May. I told Nadia that I am not going to sign her up for classes at MCS again until the pandemic is behind us. 

Over the last few weeks both Nadia and Oliver asked me when we were going to start doing art. Earlier this week I received an email that the organization where the kids have taken gymnastics classes in the past has begun to offer art classes. I considered signing the kids up until I saw the cost involved. A once a week one hour class would be $225 per month for three kids or a two hour class would be $360 a month for three kids. Yikes!!! Then I saw that a two hour class on a Saturday at a local art studio would cost $81 for three kids. I decided I'd prefer to find an online class, even though that means I have to deal with the mess and will be more involved in teaching the art lessons than I would be if they took art elsewhere. Several years ago we had a membership to art classes through Creating a Masterpiece. I decided to go that route again. There are SO many online art classes, I was having a hard time knowing which one to choose, so I went with one we were already familiar with. Sharon has added many projects since the last time we paid to access her site. Instead of paying for an annual membership, I opted to pay for one month at a time as we might only use it for six months. Going this route only costs $30 per month plus whatever supplies are needed, which is far more affordable than the other options. The 160 lessons vary greatly in difficulty and involve the use of a variety of media. Today we did two simple and quick drawing lessons. Using a pencil doesn't involve making a mess, which I appreciated. We will do some painting later in the year, but we're starting with projects that require the use of pencil, charcoal, or colored pencils. The last time Nadia and Ian completed some of Sharon's projects, I framed some of them, and they are still hanging on our walls. Hopefully we'll end up with some more masterpieces this year -  this time by all three kids!

Today I took the van for its annual inspection plus a tire rotation. They found a screw in one tire and patched the tire. Nadia stayed at home, and the boys played in the children's museum across the street for an hour while the van was serviced. I prefer to have our schoolwork done before we leave the house, but that wasn't possible since we had to leave around 12:30pm. The work on the van was done a little after 2pm, but since we also stopped at the library and picked up a few things at a grocery store on the way home, it was a little after 3pm by the time we got home. We had to eat dinner before Nadia's theatre rehearsal via Zoom (5-7pm), which meant it was a little after 6:00pm before Oliver finished his school work for the day - much later than usual! The four of us watched the 2020 Secret Garden movie after Nadia's rehearsal was done. It's been awhile since I saw the 1993 version of the movie; I used to own a VHS of that movie, ha ha! I want to see that one again with the kids, and then we four can decide which of the two movies we like better. I read them the book in 2013. I think we also need to listen to the book again, or maybe Nadia will read the book for the first time. Right now we're listening to Nory Ryan's Song and The Kite Fighters.