We have been slowly working our way through Drawing with Children by Mona Brooks.
(Click HERE to read through a resource that describes more about Mona's approach and use in a homeschool.)  We really do take our time, I allow the girls to practice each new skill a lot and try not to overwhelm them as we go through the book.  Each "lesson" is jam packed with information an we only work on one new thing at a time.

Today we discussed overlapping and where to start when you are drawing an object, either from a photo or objects in front of you.  I needed to teach that we draw what is in front first, and how to "skip" over that object to draw the things behind it.


We broke out our shapes and arranged three of them so that they will overlap in some way.  I demonstrated, step by step, how to draw the object in front.  In Mona's book she discusses the importance of learning the line families, as you will read in the link above.  So as I drew the shapes I described where I was starting and talked about the kind of lines I used, not the shape, as I was drawing.

Then I demonstrated where to start my lines for the shape behind, showing them that I use the lines of the first object to determine where I will start the new lines in my drawing.  After my demonstration, the girls chose 3 shapes of their own and walked themselves through the process I described to them.

They did very well.    Then we moved onto another example.  As you can see in the photo, I found a rubber ball with a smiley face on it.  I discovered very quickly that they were having trouble drawing this sideways, because their mind saw a smiley face so they drew one the way it "should" be instead of drawing the lines in front of them.

Teaching them to see only lines in familiar objects takes quite a bit of practice.  I demonstraited my own drawing, very carefully described everything I was doing,  saying the object was a circle, with two horizontal ovals stacked on top of each other, etc, etc.  Pointing out what I was "seeing" as I drew it.  I could see they were really thinking about the process I was going through.  I could also see that their brains were hurting! Learning to see things differently is a challenging mental activity!  I ended the lesson and left it open for them to continue drawing or to put their things away.

I really enjoy using Drawing with Children, I like that it breaks everything down in to bite size pieces and specific skills.  If you are also using this book and are running into challenges just work on a few skills for a while and try not to rush the process.   Don't wait for perfection, wait for understanding.  Perfection comes with practice, growth and development.  If they are understanding the point and displaying it in their work, regardless of skill level, then move on and give them more challenging processes to use.



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