New Blog Post — Endangered Species Nature Study
All the books and resources. And of course: chocolate!
Ash Wednesday is coming up and I’ll be starting the new Gayle Boss devotional Wild Hope, which features stories of hope through endangered species.
This last week in Florida we got to see Manatees up close from a dock and a few of them had obvious scars on their backs from motor gashes. My kids noticed. They are deeply aware of the human impact on wildlife just by living a life in nature and taking it all in as it comes to them. They have open hearts just by virtue of being human and given the opportunity to care.
I am all for the idea of giving my children freedom from the burdens of the adult world (favorite chapter in Simplicity Parenting!), but many realities are not worth hiding, especially when the vein of the suffering they feel (in themselves and every creature) runs straight to the heart of hope in Christ. What is hope if there is no need? No crying out? If we believe that children are born while persons, are they not wholly capable of a range of emotions when faced with reality?
I don’t know how to talk about elephants or tigers or polar bears or any number of these beloved animals without acknowledging the words: sick, hungry, homeless, hunted, vanishing.
But of course the story does not have to end there.
“The purpose of Lent has always been to startle us awake to the true state of our hearts and the world we’ve made. Which wakes in aching, wild hope that something new might be born of the ruin.” -Gayle Boss, Wild Hope
How do you inspire a love of art in your kids?
I’ll be sharing one of my tips below, but I genuinely want to hear from you: what barriers do you face? Is it that you personally don’t enjoy it? Kids get frustrated? Don’t know what media to use? Don’t like messes?
I’m compiling thoughts already for a blog post but would love to hear from you!
One thing that I do with my kids is participate in creating art WITH them. We use lessons from @chalkpastelart ( #partner #ad ) and I sit down and draw with them. The shared experience is a part of bringing the joy to the process and not just the final result. But of course we also display their pictures proudly when complete.
And @chalkpastelart is a fantastic way to have art instruction in your homeschool if you aren’t that comfortable creating or teaching art yourself! Each video takes you step by step to create an art piece, and there are varying degrees of difficulty. There are a wide range of topics to explore that can appeal to so many interests—landmarks, forest, space, history, garden, inventors, sharks, and more! I highly recommend this subscription—I’ll put some more details in my stories today so you can see it in action!.
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” -Pablo Picasso
Don’t forget to leave me a comment!
