THE WHEEL

Virtual schooling is NO FREAKING JOKE, and no one understands that more now than me.  I've never been tempted to homeschool my kids but I think this whole teaching at home during this COVID-19 quarantine has fully solidified my resistance to this.  Between one link for math, one link for vocabulary, one link for social studies/science and one link for reading, the entire system can be cumbersome for anyone to navigate, particularly children.  I will say though, after weeks of this, I think we're finally getting our stride and getting into a rhythm for how to navigate it all.  And I have to admit, there are fun aspects of a home curriculum and that is the childhood favorite: Art Class.



For someone like me that comes from a creative background such as architecture, I relish the opportunity to be able to tap into my dormant sense of creativity.  When you become an adult professional particularly in the corporate world, there are still little opportunities to express yourself creatively as an individual.  There are now processes, procedures and protocol.  We are bound by so many more restrictions than when we were children and we were given free reign to explore our creativity with minimal parameters (as long as we color within the lines).  So to say I got into my daughter's first assignment more than she did is an understatement.

And what was that first assignment?  A COLOR WHEEL.  The good old color wheel.  Primary colors transitioning to secondary colors in the proper order.  But the idea was not just painting a color wheel with paints, colored pencils, crayons, etc.  The assignment mostly consisted of creating a color wheel with FOUND pieces around the house.  Toys, crayons, candies.  Anything that falls within one of the colors on the color wheel can be part of this art installment.  Using our already circular formal living room coffee table, I assigned each child (because why not drag my younger son into it too right?) a couple of the colors on the wheel and had them gather anything around the house that was the shade of their assigned colors.  Had them go on a little household scavenger hunt, if you will.  They got a real kick out of having an "assignment" and it didn't take us long to accumulate more than pieces and elements.

Once accumulated, I showed them how to organize it all on the coffee table in a way that followed the rules of the color wheel.  Once complete, the final outcome had the effect that I was looking for and I think we were all happy with the result.  It was a group effort and a family art activity and that counts more than anything else.  This activity has made me realize that I can use my daughter's weekly art assignments as fun family creative outlets that we can do all together on the weekends, when we are ALL looking for things to do.  I actually think i'm, dare I say it, EXCITED for these kindergarten art projects!

All in all, I'll continue posting more of these art assignments because beyond being required for school, they're just fun activities that kids can enjoy and get into (with or without adult involvement).  My hope is that you and my daughter's art teacher will have just as enthusiastic a response at our creations as we are had when we were making it all.