Reading/Art

Summer has begun and, well, there is a lot of homework.  Math (which is my daughter's strong area), reading (lots) and in the mix things like telling time etc. 

They say the kids "lose" a lot of what they learned during the year over the summer if they don't practice.  It seems to me like an awful lot falls onto the parents and students in this line of thinking and I don't quite trust it.

Not to be too critical but it seems to me like kids need this break in the summer.  Certainly we will read but I plan to (secretly) not be too hard on her.  Summer is time to breathe.  We all need that and it seems like these days kids need it more than ever. 

This morning when I woke up the thought that I need to go and get a bunch of washable markers and some drawing paper entered my head.  We don't have enough art supplies around here.  We have crayons and coloring books but I think they need some color saturation (that markers are best at) and some paper (to make their own pictures- not something an artist has already drawn for them). 

I read the book Drawing On The Right Side of The Brain (revised version) a couple of years ago and the author pointed out that she believed early reading got in the way of art.  Language became how things were described rather than an illustration of them. 

Also I read Daniel Pink's book (cant remember the name right now) where he pointed out that he believed artistic ability will become more sought after in the future - many can write, not many can make art type of thinking.

So here I am, on the one hand being given a lot of busy work for my daughter to do over the summer but on the other hand thinking we need a light touch here.