I finally decided to try art study the Charlotte Mason way and pulled out my book of Vermeer art. We've studied art but used books like the "Come and look with me" series that shows art of a particular style but not a single artist to children. We love these books but I do like the idea of my children becoming familiar with different artists such that they could identify the artist when looking at different works of art.
My routine this week was to leave the book on the school room table displaying one particular picture. In the morning we actually ate our breakfast at the school room table and the boys studied the picture. Then I would close the book and have them describe the picture to me. It is amazing how much detail they give!
Each night I would turn the page for the following morning. I noticed that there was a painting of a naked woman and so I knew I needed to not blindly flip the page without paying attention. One night I turned the page for the following morning, it was dimly lit in the school room but as far as I could tell, the picture looked fine. You can see it below.
So the next morning Isaac and Micah are in the school room carefully studying the work of art. Isaac says to me, "Mom, I just can't figure this out. It says something about the woman being a "procuress". So I walk into the school room and take a looksy. Oops. Evidently it is a picture of a prostitute and a man fondling her breast. Big oops.
I didn't explain. Just quickly turned the page. I'll look more carefully next time. :)
1 comment:
I remember when we studied Vermeer and that same thing happened! Thankfully the children were young and naive ;) I also remember when I bought a Michaelangelo book once and left it out. When children (Aiden then 6 and Ethan then 5) found it they read it over and over under the classroom table. I found them singing "here's a pen*s, there's a pen*s, on every single page a pen*s"
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