Art

Well, yesterday, we enrolled Taliesin in yet another class at our local art center. Today, we cancelled that enrollment. Yesterday, when I enrolled him, the coordinator of education told me there would be some changes implemented during this class. The parents would no longer be allowed to sit outside of the classroom in what is called the artery (a place with art supplies, tables, Legos and blocks for the little ones, blooks, etc. that is available for public use) and wait for their children to come out of class. She said they would be setting a place up inside of the kitchen and outside the view of the children for parents to wait. I was a little disappointed, because I do enjoy watching Taliesin do his dances during the music portion of the class. He's always excited to come out. And, with the last class, we did have some issues arise in which Taliesin was excluded from certain activities. I did not notice this, since I did not sit there and watch the entire class (I was usually busy playing and building with Nathanael or reading), only the part where the kids would come out of the classroom. But Taliesin told me a few times that he was not included in a game or activity. One day I did see it happen. The kids were outside getting their faces painted. I had just happened to take Nathanael outside to run around before they came out. And I noticed that Taliesin did not get his painted. I usually do not intervene in classes, but this time I did. I saw that it was upsetting him. But, by the time, the teacher had them line up and then asked Taliesin to get his face painted (because I pointed out that he did not have his done, even though he had been waiting since the first child), he was too upset to do it. After they went back inside, he did decide to get it done. But I think it is just because of these reasons that when I let Taliesin know that I would still be there, but he wouldn't be able to see me that he said he did not want to go. So this morning we talked about it. I told him we have several different options. He could stay enrolled in the art class, we could enroll in a different class somewhere other than the art center in which the students make things out of clay, or we could get the money back that we paid to the art center and buy our own art supplies and have our own art days. He opted for the last. So we had fun at the local arts/crafts store buying everything from wooden items to paint to feathers to mosaic kits to masks to decorate. Taliesin also found the coolest things. They're called Noodles. They remind me of packing peanuts, only they're several different colors and made out of cornstarch (so they're non-toxic). When dampened with a sponge, these Noodles stick together. Taliesin has had so much fun creating new art projects with them! (Sorry the pictures are kind of fuzzy. They were taken with my cell phone. Do you know how difficult it is to remember a camera battery when I'm at the store?) So, while I'm disappointed about the art center (Taliesin has been taking classes there regularly since Feb. of 2007), I think it worked out for the best. :^)

Kandy