God created all the snowflakes differently and he did the same thing with children and the art that they do. Older children require a more structured program in techniques and appreciation, but the primary goal should be showing children that every artist has his own individual style. By showing children pictures by various artists, it allows them to break away from the heavy pressure of performing in art to a certain standard to be correct. Renoir created some of his beautiful paintings with paintbrushes tied to his hands because of arthritis. He also wanted to paint beautiful things because there was so much ugliness in the world.
Creativity is such a fragile flower.
It is easily crushed. Perhaps you have had that happen to you. It is my prayer that this story might be an encouragement to some of you that are in a similar position to the one I was in when I began homeschooling. When my husband and I were married in 1979, I was a very dedicated public school teacher. During this particular discussion, his cousin got very upset and angry at us.