This is the last week of the Virtual Curriculum Fair for 2016 and the topic this week is the arts. I have probably mentioned that art is not one of the things that we do exceptionally well in our homeschool. It’s not that I don’t think it’s important, it’s just one of those things that gets pushed aside.
I’ve been using this time to look back over the last 13 years of homeschooling and talk about what we did right and what we’d do differently this time. David actually did a lot of art on his own, he was always drawing when he was younger and we supplied him with many books on art and plenty of supplies. Most of his talent for drawing is now used in his work on computer graphics.
Music for David was another story. When he was 5 he asked for a piano for Christmas. That wasn’t a feasible gift at the time, so we bought him a small keyboard. Not too long after that we were able to move my parent’s piano to our house. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to pay for lessons for David at that time so I tried to teach him piano.
It is difficult to teach piano to your own perfectionist child. Or at least it was for me since I was already teaching him everything else. So his formal training in piano was very short-lived. We offered to get him piano lessons a few years later, but he wasn’t interested.
That is something that I regret. I wish there had been some way to get him lessons when he asked for them or that I had insisted that he try at least a few later when we offered them. The other children have all had music lessons. Anna plays the violin and in addition to lessons this year, she has joined a youth orchestra. She helps teach Lizzie violin.
William takes piano lessons. Playing piano, especially at recitals, has been very helpful in building his confidence. His teacher has just begun teaching Lizzie piano as well.
So with all the practicing going on here, it’s not uncommon to hear the Sounds of Music in our house!
This is the final week of this year’s Virtual Curriculum Fair. Visit these other great blogs to see how they teach art and add beauty to their homeschools.
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – Seeking Beauty Through the Arts
Yvie @ Gypsy Road – Art Museum Staycation & Elements of Art Unit
Sarah@ Delivering Grace – First Things First
Laura @ Day by Day in Our World – Add An Element of Beauty with Fine Arts in the Homeschool
Lisa@ Golden Grasses – What Are We Fighting For?
Annette @ A Net In Time – Art, art, and more art
Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset – The Sounds of Music
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break – Music and Other Beautiful Things
By Kristen H.