Cousin's Art Class

One of the hard parts of switching Ethan from the neighborhood Elementary to the Spanish Immersion school, was the difference in specialty classes offered. Our local school has full time teachers for PE, Music, and Art and each class goes to each one every single week. I LOVED those classes when I was in school and when I taught in districts where they didn't fund those positions and just expected the classroom teacher to make up the difference, I felt like the students were the ones who suffered. Teachers need a small break and kids need some time away from their teacher and they need something fun and creative to look forward to. It helps them behave, it gives them a fun part of the day especially if they struggle with academics.
So it was hard to give that up. Ethan's new school has a dance teacher and a PE teacher which I find kind of weird. I get there's a childhood obesity problem but why both dance and PE and no music or art. He gets music at church and soon we'll start him on piano, but art is just something I know very little about. Crafts, yes. Art, not so much.
Luckily Taylor's cousin lives just 10 minutes away and has a fine arts degree from BYU. Her paintings are AMAZING! And she has 4 boys of her own- and her 2 oldest's school doesn't have an art teacher either.
So now Ethan doesn't get art in school, but he gets a weekly 1-on-3 art professional art lesson.
And Miles and Isaac get a playdate with her 2 youngest while the rest of us paint and sculpt and draw. It's fabulous!

The best part is that she's already been teaching her 2 boys for years and they're much more advanced than Ethan. It's great for him to see them working and creating and know he can do the same. They're so sweet and helpful too.