Cannot Get Enough Color

This girl of mine... she LOVES to draw/color... and it literally happened overnight. I've always hoped she'd have an interest in creating... leaving jars of crayons and papers around the house at her disposal... but she never really "got into it"... until a few weeks ago. A few weeks ago, something turned on inside of her, and all of those coloring books that we've picked up along the way, or that have been gifted to her over the last 3 (almost) years of having her, have been completely filled with beautiful color! In the last few weeks, she's gone through about 8 coloring books, and 3 blank paged books... she cannot get enough color.

I've always given her free reign over her creative side... and that's been my favorite part about homeschooling. So, although this isn't a "School Sessions" post and update on homeschooling, it definitely is going to be my update for this week. I've read it (in countless articles) and have witnessed it (when I sat and observed Kindergarten when Charlotte was in school)... kids no longer are given enough time to create and imagine and have time to be kids. In Charlotte's old Kindergarten class, then went from one thing to the next, always sitting down, and were only given 30 minutes of recess time. School started at 8:30 in the morning, and ended around 3:00... she'd come home and have homework (because she couldn't concentrate at finishing the work in school). By the time the school work was done, it was time for dinner and bath, and then bed... leaving absolutely NO time to just "be a kid". Now, I have our homeschooling scheduled in such a way, that we are done most days by 11 the latest, and then she has the WHOLE afternoon to play, go on an afternoon outing with friends, color/draw, etc... to just be a kid. I LOVE that we have this flexibility. She builds tents/forts for her dolls, plays "shows/performances" with her dolls, reads her favorite books, etc. I love seeing her have this time to spend however (most of the time) she wants to. My favorite days though, are the ones where she spends countless hours coloring, because she just... cannot get enough color.