Modeling Artistic Expression and Exploration

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I am a former elementary public school teacher who now homeschools. In the classroom, I began every year with a read-aloud from the children’s book, Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus. Then we’d start a big discussion with me asking the question, “Tell me some of the fun and interesting things you’ve already ‘bloomed’ into? What are some of the things you already do really well?”

The children’s responses would include, “I can tie my shoes. I can count to 100. I can read. I can run really fast! I know how to tell time. My Mom taught me how to bake a cake . . . .” Next, I would bring the conversation back to Leo the Late Bloomer prompting, “Just like Leo we all bloom at different times. Some of us can run really fast and some of us already know how to read. We are all different. What are some of the things you’d like to ‘bloom into’ or learn how to do this year?” The children were never at a loss for the things they wanted to learn during the year. “I want to read a great big thick book. I want to learn how to multiply. I want to learn how to make a goal in soccer. . . .” From here the lesson would continue with a lesson on how to make an appropriate book selection for independent reading time.

Year to year, I never considered that God may give me a Leo the Late Bloomer.

When my son was born, we received a very special gift. A friend and her teenage son went to the bookstore. The teenage son selected three of his favorite childhood books for our new baby: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Good Night Moon and Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel. Upon opening the package, I cuddled on the bed with my 6 week old son and began reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear. His face lit up and I could see his little baby brain thinking, thinking, thinking. We read it 6 times! He was in love. Since that day, our children have been read to EVERY day of their lives. I read to them each day and their Daddy reads to them EVERY night. And since Daddy’s a sucker, they usually get 5 or 6 good books out of him!

As a toddler, my son showed-up one night with the children’s classic Are You My Mother? He proceeded to “read” the book cover to cover, page by page, word for word. He “read” with fluency, with excitement and with voices for all of the characters. He had memorized the entire book. This reading teacher and mother beamed! Our rich early literacy environment was producing an early reader!

Homeschool kindergarten rolled around and I was surprised that my “early reader” wasn’t reading. He didn’t even know his letters or numbers consistently. So we got busy learning our letters and letter sounds. And just like in the story Leo the Late Bloomer, my son didn’t bloom.

We read and read and read and read! I made dozens of early little readers to create easy, familiar reading material for my son. My son still wasn’t blooming.

We learned a core of easy familiar, high frequency words. My son still wasn’t blooming.

We wrote and wrote and wrote. We wrote in journals. We did interactive writing together. We used sound boxes to help us hear our letter sounds. We did cut-apart sentences. My son still didn’t bloom. However, since he has a summer birthday I really wasn’t too concerned with his progress.

During his kindergarten year, my son bloomed into airplane construction. This was cut free hand from an index card and assembled with tape.

Next, my son bloomed into dinosaur construction. He began free hand drawing the different parts of a dinosaur, cutting them out and then assembling them into 3D creations.

Then my son bloomed into producing precise drawings of things like the parts of an insect.

He bloomed into a LOVE for nonfiction books and then creating art based on the knowledge he’d gained.  He bloomed into studying, measuring and creating a life sized dinosaur. My son bloomed into an artistic view of the world, seeing an opportunity to create everywhere.

We’ve just finished-up first grade and my son still has not bloomed on the traditional, public school time line. But anyone who spends time with him is amazed at his artistic gift of design and construction. His artistic ideas come from him. I have nothing to do with 99.9% of his projects.

Long before I became a homeschooling Mommy, The Agony and the Ecstasy became one of my favorite books. It is a biographical novel about Michelangelo. When I saw Michelangelo’s David in person, I was mesmerized by the genius mind of this man. Now, I’m not saying my little late bloomer will bloom into Michelangelo, but what if I don’t give him the freedom to develop the artistic seed that God planted inside of him?

So for now we will plunge full speed ahead with our reading, writing and arithmetic. But my son will also be given time each day to explore the world and nurture the special artistic seed that was planted inside of him! If I could recommend one book for every parent and teacher to read it would be Your Child’s Strengths: A Guide for Parents and Teachers by Jenifer Fox, M. Ed. Jenifer Fox challenges us to look at our children’s potential through their unique strengths.

Jeannine Aristeguieta is a homeschooling Mom who is passionate about creating vibrant souls in her children, ages 7 and 3. Her educational philosophy is to keep it simple, keep it uncomplicated and spontaneous, and keep it engaging and hands-on. Jeannine is a former public school teacher, with a specialization in reading, and an educational consultant. She is blessed to live in Texas with her husband, of 22 years, and their two children. Jeannine and her sister Joyce blog at waddleeahchaa.com.