How important are poetry and art for boys?

[Sparrows-Song]

I have a 6th grader and 4th grader (both boys.)

Neither of them are interested in art or poetry at all. (The 4th grader likes to draw and we have expanded on that a bit.) Yes, I know, they should be introduced to it in order to be well-rounded students, but besides that, how important is it really? We are having some struggles with other subjects right now and my main focus has been to get them caught up to where they should be in math and composition. They both love history, lit, and science as well, and it seems all our energy is spent covering the basics.

So how important do you think it is, and what are your goals for teaching it? Will my boys be left in the dark somewhere without it?

Thanks for your opinions.
Lisa

[Jenny in Florida]

I have a 9-year-old son, and one of the things that I've noticed is that lots of exposure to all different kinds of arts seems to have helped him develop an emotional vocabulary that allows him to express his own feelings more freely. There is something, for example, about poetry that helps tap into something inside him, and when his own experiences and emotions touch on those same things, it resonates. He is then able to explain to me how he is feeling by alluding to something he's read or a piece of art he has seen . . .

This one may also turn out to be an engineer. So, hands-on art skills--especially drawing--will be very important to him.

But, honestly, I just think it's about being a well-rounded person, much more than the academic benefits.


--Jenny

[Rhesa]

My son (7) who is very, very active loves poetry. He is very verbal, and remembers poetry easily. He's less interested in art. The poetry exposure is easy because he seems to enjoy it-not so much with art. But since ds is still very young, I try to keep it light.

I think general exposure is important- you never know what might "stick"! Just my thoughts. Take it or leave it...:rolleyes:

[mcconnellboys]

I don't know, I tend to think that it's important for everyone. I guess the challenge with boys is how to integrate that in a fun way - so we do things like limericks and other crazy poetry (Silverstein, et al) to make them laugh. The serious stuff can wait until they're more mature....

For art, maybe something like cartooning would be appealing to them. Doing cartoon characters of their history figures, such as King Arthur, Robin Hood, etc., etc. might be appealing to them. They could then narrate the piece to create a new story line for such historical figures.... Stuffy art appreciation can be left until they're older.....

Regena

[Colleen]

I absolutely don't see it as a girl versus boy matter. Exposure to poetry and art are worthwhile for all people of all ages!:)

[Mama Lynx]

I have all boys, and I think art and poetry are terribly important for them. Both expose them to beauty, and nourish the soul. Both give them tools and outlets for potential creativity.

[Plaid Dad]

As important as they are for girls: very.

[Sue in St Pete]

My 12yo son would do no art, music, drama at all if it was his choice.

He went to Kindermusik in 1st & 2nd grade. He has taken piano lessons starting in 3rd grade. This has been at my insistence. But, whenever he complains, I give him the choice of anything in the fine arts area: another instrument, choir, band, drama, art, maybe there are others. He always decides just to stick with piano.

As to poetry, he's been exposed a bit. Nothing formal. I remember doing formal poetry study one year in high school.

Sue

[Pencil Pusher]

Let's ask ee cummings, da Vinci, & Van Gogh.

Oh, wait.

I realize that people have different levels of interest & due to various life situations will have various levels of exposure, but let's please not divide it up as a gender thing. :001_smile:

[MSNative]

Have you tried some different curricula? My kids love Smart Art for art appreciation and Mark Kistler's online art academy for hands on skills.

As far as poetry - Science Verse. Hands down the best poetry for boys -or at least my boys. Funny poems about science. They have memorized all of them and love them. Math Verse is another one. It helped them appreciate poetry and now they are more interested in reading other poems. Also, we downloaded some poems from librivox.org. They listen to a few on drives and that seems to make it more interesting.

That said, if they don't get totally into it, I think that's ok. Try it a few times. If they hate it, give it a rest for a bit. Then try again.

Good luck.

[Karen in CO]

I think poetry is very important - especially memorizing it. Here is Pudewa from IEW explaining why (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqPIrS6iUx4&feature=player_embedded)(and yes, the way he talks drives me crazy).

I also value art, at the middle school age, my ds loved Mark Kistler's Draw Squad.

[Spock]

While I don't want to heavily emphasize poetry and art for students who are uninterested (boys or girls), I also don't want to neglect them entirely. Even children who aren't naturally drawn to such things can enjoy them and benefit from them.

So, I simply require my high school boys to read one poem of their choice every day, and I try to read aloud a poem a day for the elementary schoolers, though I am about ready to pass that over to them for independent reading. I don't require any sort of analysis or discussion of the poetry at all--just that they read it. (We do discuss and write about the novels / short stories / plays they read for literature.)

While my older boys disliked poetry at first, after several months of daily poetry reading they started to enjoy it. They both have favorite poets now. My elementary schoolers (one boy, one girl) neither like nor dislike poetry so far.

I take a similar approach to art. I choose a different art work every two weeks, and put a print-out on the wall (choosing 4-6 works in a row by the same artist). I ask everyone to look at it every day, trying to find something new that they didn't notice before. We also have The Story of Painting by Sister Wendy that they occasionally browse. The younger children try to sketch the painting/sculpture at the end of the two weeks, and then look back at the painting to see what they left out/remembered wrong, and what they got right.

This has helped us all to really pay attention to visual details. As a side benefit, I have learned to distinguish between really good artwork and just "pretty" artwork when I see it for sale in stores. We all have learned to appreciate art in this way. We even have favorite artists now. (I also have a variety of simple art supplies--colored and plain paper, cardstock, scissors, glue, markers, crayons, charcoal, paint, oil pastels, etc. available for any of the children to use in their free time.)

[pageta]

I wasn't that much into poetry myself until I started reading it to my son every day. We do a new poem every day and then I also read the poems we did for the past four days (so five poems a day). By the time you hear it the fifth time, you're becoming familiar with it. He has special requests that he likes to hear again, and he also memorizes some of the poems I read (ones he chooses). No analysis, though I may explain a bit what the poem is talking about the first day we read it if I think he doesn't have the life experience to understand something.

As for art, we do art appreciation once a week. Right now we are doing the Come Look with Me series. We just look at the picture, discuss the various details, talk about what the weather is in the picture (if it is outdoors), whether the people are happy or what their mood is and why, etc. Then I put the picture aside and have him describe as much of the picture as he can recall. Really quite simple. It's one of his favorite subjects. And I have developed much more of an appreciation for art myself through these weekly exercises.

Being exposed to something and majoring in it in college are two different things. I think everyone should be exposed to enough poetry and art that they have a basic literacy. I didn't have that when I was in school, and I feel like I missed out.

[Medieval Mom]

I absolutely don't see it as a girl versus boy matter. Exposure to poetry and art are worthwhile for all people of all ages!:)

:iagree: