Educators R Us
The girls scatter doodles throughout the school day. Some of it is required, such as the illustration that accompanies their narration for each history chapter we read together.
Millie's doodle of King Louis the XIV, anyone? (The girls loved his wig. I loved his rubber arm.) Perfectly acceptable. Fine.
Annika's doodles to accompany one of the poems she memorized? All well and good.
I regularly ask them to add illustrations in their history notebooks, science notebooks, and memorization notebooks, but over the course of the year, the doodling has spread into every last nook and cranny of every last "subject."
Spelling, math, you name it.
In the same day, I found the doodles below, as well as many more I didn't bother to take a picture of.
Observe Su's math drill sheet. (Oh, I love you, my basement Dwarf...)
And also from Susie, here's a math lesson sheet, festooned with (when asked) "a girl whose mouth is full of peanuts. See? Her cheeks are puffed out. And she's cryin' and sayin', 'Ahhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhh!' because her hair looks like a carrot."
On the opposite page from Mildred's answer page for math was Celeste the Gentle CEclop. Really? I thought she was figuring algorithms the entire time. (Her answers were, at least, free from errors.)
Daily, they leave me funny drawings and secret messages, all of which I enjoy without reproof. (I used to do the same, after all.)
5 comments :
I still have all the letters you ever wrote with 'doodles'.
For when you are famous and all that.
;-)
Yeah, you should probably hang onto them because they might be the last doodles I ever doodle. (I've been feeling a mighty hankering to doodle lately but haven't worked hard enough to squeeze it in.)
And by "famous," I assume you mean infamous. For what, I don't yet know, but maybe I'll do something dastardly enough to earn infamy before I die.
Haven't worked hard enough to squeeze it in?
I didn't just read that. Did I???
The biggest PHSAAAAWWW at you!!! I know for a FACT that isn't true. You are like a 9 month pregnant MACHINE.
I am thinking of quitting this whole email thing once the baby comes and you are working at your NORMAL pace, because I can't even keep up with your so-called WHALE pace!
So I would encourage you to doodle away, chipped even just a few moments every week to do things that give you joy and pleasure.
I have begun to realize that those things that give us pleasure, when actually done, teach our children valuable things too in the witnessing. Like how to be more like Creator God, like how to enjoy Him through the strengths and gifts He has given us, and how to use time wisely by taking moments each day to seek after joy. That sorta thing.
Although, maybe I am just justifying it all in my head. ;-)
No worries. I agree with you completely, and you should know that not only does The List not include the piddly(er) aspects of each day's duties, but also the moments when my body and/or mind is at rest. Every day I read for my own pleasure, and every day I read to the girls. I stare out the window at snow swirling, and now that warm weather's here, I sit on the steps and vacuously listen to birdsong or stare at the stars. I go for (short!) walks and play outside with the girls. These small moments nourish me and break up the busyness.
The specific reason, apart from laziness, that doodling has taken a back seat for so long is that it is a singularly individual activity, at least for me. It's fine if I'm just doodling scribbles along with the girls for the infrequent "art" lesson, but anything that I care about or have an investment in is off-limits during daylight hours. Distractions (i.e. CHILDREN and SMUSHING and BICKERING and SMOOCHING), coupled with my inept ability to transfer what's in my head onto paper, make me irritable and discontent. This leaves the hours before bed and after bed for "serious" doodling, and, like I said, I just haven't bothered to squeeze it into those times.
An artistic, older mother once responded to my lament about lacking time for some of the creative pursuits I sometimes wish I chose to fit in by saying, "In many ways, this is the most creative time of your . You are shaping existence; you are creating a world; you are surrounded by some of the most creative minds alive [children]. This is art."
She was right. In every season of life, one can choose to approach one's tasks as drudgery or Other. The way in which one goes about huswifery can be as much a reflection of the talents and pleasures God has given us, and as much a creative reflection of the Creator, as the more obvious "creative" pursuits do. When the girls delight in some little touch I've tweaked in or out of the house, I'm rewarded and know this also to be true.
The Abrupt End of Rambling that No One Shall Ever Read.
(Aren't you glad?)
"...life..."
Post a Comment