Open thread Saturday

hi annika :^)

you’re going to hate me, because i know you’ve been rearranging a lot and working on your space issues, but first i would recommend giving him his own space to work, if it at possible — something that doesn’t need to be taken down or repurposed. and you know it needs to be in the main living area because he’s probably not going to want to go off and work by himself. sorry! :^D)

as usual, i would recommend giving him the adjacent wall as display space. try not to immediately fill it (either the horizontal or the vertical space), but put enough material there to get the ball rolling and leave enough room for it to develop into something more specific.

then ..

in order to discover his interests, you are going to need to come to a full stop. as long as you are doing something around him, that is going to command his attention. initially you’ll be getting a lot less done, but if it works, later you can get more done, so maybe it will balance out? ;^) we can hope.

come to a dead stop with him in a somewhat limited environment. (it won’t work if you provide activities or something special — try to keep things neutral.) then watch him play and document what he does, says, chooses, talks about, etc. this is the raw data you will ponder.

you can go to the library and let him choose his own books on whatever he wishes; you can even go shopping in your own books and let him choose freely.

instead of making suggestions, be quiet and leave the suggesting/asking up to him. basically, you’re in observation mode — you’re the anthropologist, he is your tiny native subject.

give it at least a week. (and i’m not saying that you have to do nothing for a week — just observe him for an amount of time every day for a week. maybe an hour? a half hour is probably not long enough. he might just try to wait you out to see what’s coming next.) then look through your notes and see if anything jumps out at you.

if you can uncover something that he is interested in (and not just a passing fancy, but something that actually pulls his attention) — penguins? clouds? fiber arts? — you can then have a place to begin.

what do you think?

yay for space! :^D)

my older son didn’t talk till he was 3 so i know from where you speak. but interests can be revealed from things other than conversation, e.g.,

• toys he chooses most

• dramatic play (situations he’s acting out, etc.)

• books he chooses most

• tv programs that particularly captivate his interest

etc.

when he watches tv, does he just sit and watch or does he play at the same time?

is there some particular scene or thing inside kung fu panda that he’s particularly riveted to?

your description of his watching habits is interesting; i’m wondering if he immediately walks away from it if there’s something better to do .. like help you sew. ;^)

instead of thinking “i will observe you from 9:00 to 10:00 this morning”, try to make some blank spaces (after he’s bored with tv, say) and pay attention to those. it’s easier to let him fall into an empty period of time naturally than try to force it. if you withhold starting something new/offering a new activity/etc., you can see what he does at loose ends.

hi, cordelia. :^)

re: math, we teach it separately as well as incorporating it meaningfully whenever possible. there are a lot of different math programs that people use, and others may want to pop up & make recommendations. we don’t use a curriculum, so i’m afraid i can’t recommend anything there.

as to writing, i’ve never had trouble incorporating writing with project work, from age 2 up. although “writing”, i suppose, is rather vague — what specifically are you thinking about?

thank you, Teri!

angela, ooh - beeswax. :^)

mm, re: getting in a rut .. on the one hand, you want to honor the fact that your child is really doing work that is important to them and obviously has a long attention span to dedicate to working in this particular way. on the other hand, it is always the goal to encourage them to expand their work.

(i would throw this to my studio teacher as well, but i know she’s up in chicago for the holiday! maybe she can come back and give some additional suggestions later. ;^)

so, let’s see .. pondering extensions ..

-- vary the watercolor materials, e.g., give watercolor paper cut into different sizes, colored watercolor paper, a bound watercolor sketchbook, additional paints (there is a wide variety of colors between different sets -- you could also give her a few tubes of liquid watercolor and let her mix her own colors -- a plastic palette would go along with that idea), brushes of varying sizes and shapes and materials

-- vary the art-making materials, e.g., offer acrylics & canvas

-- offer inspirational pieces, e.g., art books (i like to buy mine at junk shops and library sales), art prints, etc. you can use library books for this, but inexpensive used books are preferable as if they are used in the studio they will no doubt get paint on them!

-- vary the surroundings -- if she likes to paint things she sees in the backyard, you could take some dedicated walks/hikes/outings to paint en plein air

-- ask her specifically what you can get for her to help her with her work

-- paint with her, varying your own technique (e.g., sketching first)

it is a careful line to walk between making suggestions and asking her to do something specific, between setting out provocations (say, a still life) and implying or requiring that she paint that still life.

i would encourage you to honor the work she is doing by documenting it -- say, photographing her working, by displaying her work, by giving her a dedicated work space to keep her supplies and inspirational images, by asking her what she needs to continue.

if she is in a rut because she feels very confident with what she is doing, then pressuring her to do something else probably won’t have a good effect. if she is in a rut because she hasn’t considered ways to extend her work, offering things like those listed above might encourage her to do so. but it’s worth considering that maybe she isn’t in a rut -- maybe she is still very interested in what she’s doing. e.g., “oh, van gogh - sunflowers *again*?!” ;^)