My older sister taught me how to cross stitch when I was Shane's age. I made many pretty little things with my cross stitching skills, but I quit after Ian was born. Mark was worried that Ian would swallow a needle and suggested I switch to knitting. I could make useful things like socks and hats and the needles are too big to swallow. We all know how that story ends!
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| Daniel's Project (I told him to frown for the picture) |
Nothing makes me happier than cooking up "hands on" projects that
correlate with something we are studying in history or science, and I am in desperate need of happy. Monday, the
kids colored a picture of the
Bayeux Tapestry
while I read about the Battle of Hastings in our history book. The
Bayeux Tapestry, which is actually an embroidered banner, is almost 1000 years old and is 270 feet long! That's three times as long as a blue whale (according to Shane)! This was the perfect time to pass my stitchin' skills on down to my children.
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| "This is boring. Let's go tie knots instead." ~Ian |
I know better than to try to teach anything with too much detail. What works for us is to have an example of embroidery online, show them something I've made, and then hand them the supplies. If I try to demonstrate first, they all clamor and interrupt and ask too many questions. They just want to jump into things first and ask questions second. I also don't make Ian come and join us; I give him the option if he seems interested. My goal for today was just to get them to thread a needle and do a simple straight stitch to form a letter or their name. So, is anyone surprised that the girls took to stitching and the boys didn't? I never once biased their thoughts in any way as to which gender embroidery appeals to or who embroidered the most throughout history. Ian wanted to go tie knots. Shane would rather do his math. Daniel crumpled his project up into a ball (not that I was expecting Daniel to do anything, but I still give him supplies so he feels included).
Fiona made an F and Evie finished her whole name. Evie, our focused artistic child, is now planning to add colorful decorations. She is the reason I've made an effort to schedule arts and crafts. I used to save art for Friday afternoons, but it rarely got done. Wednesday mornings are much better because we are ready for a break from workbooks (more on that later) and Wednesday afternoons are busy, on-the-road days with Homeschool PE at the YMCA. Evie has decided to add purple confetti markings around her name. It looks great! She'll be doing cross stitch designs in no time!
