I can't do it. I just can't.
Jun. 6th, 2008 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciroccojI skip music with the boys for just about any excuse. We haven't done music in weeks, because I was studying for the Bar. Haven't picked it up again yet. They have absolutely no sense of rhythm or pitch. I cringe when they practice. And they don't like it much either, so it feels like a lot of effort and hardship for all of us, for very little end product.
We keep doing it for the discipline - for all of us.
Art? Is OK when we're doing very very simple crafts, or colouring. Put anything in there that requires any kind of artistic talent, hand-eye coordination - and I seriously want to beat my head against the wall until it bleeds.
We've avoided anything talent-related for weeks. So today I thought hey, we're doing the Romans; why not do mosaics? That'll be fun. It doesn't require a lot of talent to make a very very simple picture and then fill it in with coloured bits of paper. That's what we'll do. Mosaics.
Oh my god they cannot do mosaics.
I let them pick their subjects. Trojan horse, said Justin. Farmer plowing his field, said Daniel.
Um... OK, but remember, you can't have fine lines.
No, you can't have fine lines.
No, really. You can't have fine lines and curves like that.
No, your picture is the size of a finger. I've given you a full blank piece of paper. I want you to fill it.
No, you can't have fine lines. The mosaic tiles are too large.
[cut for length]
OK. Let's look at some mosaics other people have done. See? These are kid's mosaics, and they're very simple.
No, that's still tiny.
No, no fine lines.
No, really, that's too small.
[cut for length]
OK, making up your own pattern isn't working. How about this: pick random designs. Or simple shapes like stars and circles.
No. That's too small.
No-
[cut for length]
All right, you both do stars. And put a nice border around your stars.
One star, in the centre of the page.
No, that's the size of a loonie.
It's too small.
That's not what a star looks like.
[cut for length]
OK, I'll draw a star on the blackboard, you copy that.
It's right there. You can do it. Just copy it.
It's a star, sweetie. See how it looks on the board? Five points. A star.
[cut]
OK, Star of David, then. Two triangles. One inverted. Six points.
[cut]
OK, I'll draw it for you. No, that's ridiculous.
Sweetie, two triangles. You can do it.
The points have to emerge from the centre. What you've got is two triangles, one inside the other. That's not a star. Look at the board, sweetie. Make it look like that.
...
I want to scream. My kids are so bright. They do math a grade ahead of where they should be. They learn so quickly - though Justin has a great deal of difficulty sometimes with very simple oral memorization - and they tell stories and invent things and talk and learn and figure things out and then... we hit art or music, and it's like smashing into a brick wall. Completely and utterly unable to copy the simplest things, even lines, or count in anything even remotely resembling a steady rhythm, or stay anywhere close to the tune when singing.
We have just spent an hour and a half on this and we now have two blank pieces of paper with large uneven stars drawn on them. We have not yet reached the part of the endeavor where they cut little coloured pieces of paper and glue them on.
We keep doing it for the discipline - for all of us.
Art? Is OK when we're doing very very simple crafts, or colouring. Put anything in there that requires any kind of artistic talent, hand-eye coordination - and I seriously want to beat my head against the wall until it bleeds.
We've avoided anything talent-related for weeks. So today I thought hey, we're doing the Romans; why not do mosaics? That'll be fun. It doesn't require a lot of talent to make a very very simple picture and then fill it in with coloured bits of paper. That's what we'll do. Mosaics.
Oh my god they cannot do mosaics.
I let them pick their subjects. Trojan horse, said Justin. Farmer plowing his field, said Daniel.
Um... OK, but remember, you can't have fine lines.
No, you can't have fine lines.
No, really. You can't have fine lines and curves like that.
No, your picture is the size of a finger. I've given you a full blank piece of paper. I want you to fill it.
No, you can't have fine lines. The mosaic tiles are too large.
[cut for length]
OK. Let's look at some mosaics other people have done. See? These are kid's mosaics, and they're very simple.
No, that's still tiny.
No, no fine lines.
No, really, that's too small.
[cut for length]
OK, making up your own pattern isn't working. How about this: pick random designs. Or simple shapes like stars and circles.
No. That's too small.
No-
[cut for length]
All right, you both do stars. And put a nice border around your stars.
One star, in the centre of the page.
No, that's the size of a loonie.
It's too small.
That's not what a star looks like.
[cut for length]
OK, I'll draw a star on the blackboard, you copy that.
It's right there. You can do it. Just copy it.
It's a star, sweetie. See how it looks on the board? Five points. A star.
[cut]
OK, Star of David, then. Two triangles. One inverted. Six points.
[cut]
OK, I'll draw it for you. No, that's ridiculous.
Sweetie, two triangles. You can do it.
The points have to emerge from the centre. What you've got is two triangles, one inside the other. That's not a star. Look at the board, sweetie. Make it look like that.
...
I want to scream. My kids are so bright. They do math a grade ahead of where they should be. They learn so quickly - though Justin has a great deal of difficulty sometimes with very simple oral memorization - and they tell stories and invent things and talk and learn and figure things out and then... we hit art or music, and it's like smashing into a brick wall. Completely and utterly unable to copy the simplest things, even lines, or count in anything even remotely resembling a steady rhythm, or stay anywhere close to the tune when singing.
We have just spent an hour and a half on this and we now have two blank pieces of paper with large uneven stars drawn on them. We have not yet reached the part of the endeavor where they cut little coloured pieces of paper and glue them on.
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-06 07:41 pm (UTC)What gets me through some days? Realizing that at least mine aren't in a classroom full of other kids, being publicly mocked for the holes in their development (which everyone has in one area or another.) They get to see that the hole is there in an environment where I can be supportive and just say, "Okay, you know what? This is being hugely frustrating for you and for me. Let's do something completely different." and I can get out something they excel at, and we can focus on the thing they are gifted in for a bit.
Some just don't fit inside a "must be average in all areas" box.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-06 09:38 pm (UTC)I can draw a line and make it mostly straight. But as for the rest, I'm with your boys. So tell them if they don't improve they might end up as scientists like me. ;(