Sketch Tuesdays

Happy Wednesday, friends.

We began our journey of homeschooling implementing the Charlotte Mason philosophy of education in 2011.

And in those early days, I came across Barbara's site mentioning Sketch Tuesday. Here's how it worked: Barbara would give a sketch prompt for that particular Tuesday, for example: sketch something that begins with the letter B. Ready, set, sketch! Then you could photograph your sketches and send them to her to post on her site.

And in those early days, we participated. Not actually sending in our sketches to be posted on her site, but just sketching at home. My line of thinking was that the sketching would encourage my then-reluctant nature sketchers to take more interest in their Nature journals. It worked. :) 

But as time worn on, and life got busier, it got dropped by the wayside. And last year, especially from May - December,  I was dealing with so much stuff, and doing what I called "treading water". In other words, getting the basics taken care and that's it. No extras at all. None.

In December, I decided that some re-evaluating of our school days was in order. It seemed to me that Sketch Tuesdays weren't the only things that got dropped. I knew that I needed to tweak our schedule, and revive the things I had so enjoyed (and the children enjoyed, too!) when we first began our CM journey. And just to clarify: I am not so foolish as to believe that I can do all that's listed in the AO curriculum;  it is a very rich curriculum to say the least. And at this point in my life, I am learning that doing all of it is simply not possible right now. But I wanted to re-establish some of what gave us so much joy way back when.

So I did what always do when I want to remember something: I made a list. (Sticky notes are my best friend, btw.  lol) 

At the top of my list was Sketch Tuesday. It was definitely something I wanted to bring back.

When I first mentioned it to the children, they said, "We remember that from when we first started the Charlotte Mason method!" And they love it - just like they did in the early days.  :)

(I make up my own prompts, but you can follow Barbara's prompts, if you want to.)

I wanted to share some of Sketch Tuesday fun with you..if any of you would like to join in the fun.  :)

Our first Sketch Tuesday prompt was to sketch an ornament on the Christmas tree.

They sketched glass ornaments and tongue-depressor snowmen.  :)

The 2nd prompt was sketch something in a pharmacy.

They sketched medicine bottles, jewelry, and light sabers. (Why yes, our pharmacy does sell light sabers!  :) )

The third prompt was given yesterday: sketch something that begins with the letter X. I thought I was giving them something challenging to sketch, but they came up with X words immediately and began to sketch.

Ian (on the left) sketched and x-ray machine and a xylophone. Asher (on the right) sketched Xanadu.  

Mimi (on the left) sketched a xylophone. Aaron (on the left) sketched a xylophone and a pirate map with "X marks the spot".  :)

Natty sketched a very colorful xylophone, too.  :)

Happy homeschooling!  :)