Just When I Thought...

...that I was starting to be a horrible mother who made her children drone through stupid workbooks, who didn't allow her children enough creative freedom and Independence to envision something different or unique with their time and talents, that I was squelching their burgeoning industriousness by keeping them home and not allowing (or being able to afford) some sort of creative outlet outside the home...they come up with stuff like this (in the past few days alone):

("All Peoples" by Mari, age 2)

("We're building a monster truck rally!" Mari, NIklaus, and Matty)


(Trina and Weazy in watercolor and crayon resist by Analise, age 8)

("Ironman Hands" using Lego Bionicles and Lego bricks by Matthew, age 11)


("Trina and Jordan, The early years" in charcoal pencil by Trina, age 14)
(Thomas listens to a reading about the gladiators in Rome...okay, so he might have actually eaten the book and not really listened but I'm convinced he's a lot smarter than he was this morning! Age 8 months)

...I realize that learning happens in between the structured "lessons" that I lay out for them.

I realize that they are a whole lot more creative and brilliant than I could ever take credit for.

Thanks be to God.

Thank you, God, for allowing me to homeschool my children!

Venus by Trina (age 13)

Spring Scene With Birds by Analise (age 7)

Weazy's Art Book Tour

I love the narration, "This was when I was 7". She's 7 now! Heehee!
She says in her video that she loves drawing mermaids. I can vouch that this is true. I can't even count the number of pages she's given me with "I love you Mom" and mermaids all over the place. I think she has a real talent for drawing! I have very artistic children. I thought Trina was the only one, but it seems all of them have a natural knack. They did NOT get it from me!

Bead Guy by Weazy age 7

Mama, I Made This For You! by Niklaus age 3.5

"Lady And The Tramp" by Analise age 6

"Horse" by Katrina

She'd never tried to draw horses and this was her first attempt not looking at a picture or anything! It kind of reminds me of the Little House illustrator Garth Williams' style.

I Love You Mommy (# 4973)

I don't have enough bandwidth to publish all of Analise's "I love you mommy" pictures so I'll just put in my favorites...and there are a LOT of those, too!

"Bionicle" by Matthew

Not only can Matty create amazing things with Lego Bionicles, but he can DRAW them too! I'm pretty sure this is the ONLY thing he draws. I'll check his papers and maybe post some things if I can find them later.

"Deer" by Analise age 6

Here is Analise's third attempt. Her first attempt was a bear and she didn't like it so she threw it away. I thought this one was very nice. She added the bow for a feminine effect which I thought was super cute.

"Cat" by Analise age 6

Analise watched a "How to Draw Animals" video on the portable DVD player so she could pause when she needed to and write on the table. This was only her second attempt at following the video and I think it turned out great!