Artists in Training

I love homeschooling my kids and I am fairly confident in my ability to teach them. There are lots of things I don't know, but with the Lord's guidance I have been able to learn and prepare myself to teach my children. And I am especially grateful for teachers and mentors who bless the lives of my children!

Although I am not an artist, I want my children to have an artistic education. Over the years, I have been able to learn quite a bit about art history. We have many art books in our home. I give my children lots of opportunities to create with all kinds of art supplies. We have visited many art museums and galleries. I even got out of my comfort zone last summer when I took a fabulous art workshop for parents from my talented friend Angela. I can support, encourage and inspire, but I know that my children need an art teacher!

All four of my children have taken art lessons from another wonderful artist named Kara. This week Kara gave her students an amazing opportunity. She took the kids to the temple for some on-location art lessons. Kara is not a member of our church, but she surely sees the beauty in this holy place.

Here is Kara and her class in front of the beautiful San Diego temple.

Here is our hero John! On Monday, the temple was closed. That meant the kids were trying to draw from outside the locked gates. It wasn't the best view, but then John came along. He unlocked the gates and invited the class to come and draw on the temple grounds.

Our artists are hard at work. Notice that Evan is sitting apart from all of the girls. I guess he just wants a different point of view. We all have different perspectives and that makes life exciting!

Now the kids are busy painting their drawings. I can't wait to see Evan's finished work of art, but I know that the lessons he is learning along the way are just as important. He is developing a love of learning and working hard to do his best. Most importantly, he is becoming aware that as children of the Ultimate Creator and Author of beauty, we are all artists.