Children's Requests

Little Miss loves to draw. I guess I should clarify ~ she loves to draw HORSES. :P
She presented me with this drawing and asked me to grade it. Seems Little Miss would like to see Art incorporated into Suaemoc's school day. ;) How does one grade such a masterpiece? Of course, Little Miss is her own worst critic and felt she deserved a "D". Still, she brought the original photograph from the magazine to me so a comparison could be made between her rendition and the original. While I still felt her drawing to be a display of extreme artistic talent, Little Miss stood over my shoulder, eagerly awaiting constructive criticism.
The drawn horse's nose is less elongated than the photograph from the magazine. The photograph has much lighter shading in the horse's throat. The concho is drawn smaller than the one in the photograph, too, but such details are minor in attempting to come up with an appropriate grade to assign to the wonderful artwork of a 14-year-old.
As the prodding continued, I knew I needed to satisfy Little Miss's need for a grade. In the back of my mind, I wanted to say "A+", but knew she would be unhappy with receiving a perfect grade for what she truly felt was imperfection. So, Little Miss's "Pyro Thyme" drawing received a grade of "A-". She was pleased. :)
I suppose we can make Art a creative part of Suaemoc. It is, after all, a way to express oneself and release imagination. How I will be able to critique the children's art projects remains to be seen, as every child is a Picasso to their mothers.
The Little Boy is not without his opinions! For Writing today, his assignment was to persuade me to accept an idea he has for Suaemoc. We discussed persuasive writing and building ideas from the least important to the most important. He chose to present the idea of having gym class as part of our home school routine. ;)
"Gym should be part of school every day.", he begins. Every day? That's ambitious. He continues with his attempt to persuade me to agree by stating, "Gym is fun." Is that a good reason to have gym every day? ;) He concludes with: "It's a way to keep active and fit. Gym also is good in helping to be more healthy." Well, I can't argue with that! :)
Alright, Suaemoc will have gym class, then. Beginning today, the children each had to do Wii Fit exercises for 15 minutes. Did they stop after just 15 minutes each? No! :P Knowing that it would prove difficult to tear them away, they weren't allowed to begin "gym class" until they completed all their other assignments for the day. It is a fantastic idea to encourage fitness and staying active. The Little Boy's persuasion was effective. "A+"! :)