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We just started PHFHG today and my dc are stressing over the sketches. Today they did the very first day of unit 1 with the picture of the earth with the tundra on it and my ds especially was having such a difficult time with it. I tried to encourage him to trace it but he said he was having a difficult time drawing the details of the land and such. He is still working on it and even cried over it. My son loves to draw so I thought this would be right up his alley, but he does not look like he's having fun. Any tips?

Maybe have him draw the outline (whatever was easy for him) and then let you help with the details. Sometimes my older son gets tired of writing - he is a poor speller and easily discouraged in that area. Often times, when he gets really upset with it, I tell him to hand me the pencil and we turn the activity into a dictation where I write and he articulates. I make sure to tell him to to expect my help each and every time...but that when he gets frustrated, he needs to tell me about it so I can figure out how to help him better. HTH!

We had this trouble last year when my younger dd did this. She is enjoys drawing but had a hard time following the sketches. I finally told her to not worry about the steps and look at the final picture. I didn't care if her deer looked like a dog as long as she did her best (and it had 4 legs etc). I think this relieved her a lot and she did better with her drawings.

So funny that you'd post this today. DD came to me all stressed that her dinosaur looked HORRIBLE! I can't convince her otherwise. All I tried to do was encourage that it's practice, that it's supposed to be fun, and that she is not a professional artist. Her dad is, so I called and asked him to work with her on it when he comes home. Sometimes he's more patient and can be more encouraging in some areas - especially when I am wanting to move on to other things!

playschool,

I'm not sure whether tracing might be something that would be an option to help your little guy with the Draw and Write at first? Many kiddos do trace in the beginning just to get a good feel for how to draw and to alleviate their fears that it has to be "just like the picture" in the book.

If your son has never done step by step drawing before and has been more used to free-hand sketching, then it will take a bit of time to get used to the step-by-step instructions and illustrations in the Draw and Write Through History series. We look at that part of our day as art instruction in sketching, so we know going into it that it is something the kiddos won't have mastered right away.

My son grew to love this part of Preparing Hearts last year but took a L-O-N-G time originally to do his sketches. It got much easier for him, and he gained much confidence in this area as the year went on. He was a good sketcher going into Preparing Hearts, but really bloomed with the instructions in Draw and Write.

Blessings,
Carrie