First let me help you see the whale shark. In the bottom left corner is the tail folded under. Then as you follow the paper up from the tail you come to the fins, the paper on top of the body. Then you see the squarish head, just perfect to feed on plankton.
It is difficult to get into my son’s head at times. Without the vocabulary to express one’s self it is difficult at best. My son loves cars, trains, and anything with an engine. He will race around the house with a “rocket ship” that can be anything from a bottle cap to a stick. I must admit I worry at times about his creative and analytical skills. He seems to be so one-sided. He has never really been into “art”. By art I mean coloring with crayons or painting. Other kids seem to love this; not my son.
Homeschooling gives me a chance to expose his little mind to different things. At the end of February science was watching documentaries on sharks. What he was getting out of it I couldn’t really tell. Then the other day, out of the blue, he came to get me. He excitedly exclaimed “Mom, look a whale shark!” I walked into the kitchen and lo and behold there was a paper whale shark on our floor. I was amazed at the ability of my son to take crumpled up packing paper from a box and turn it into art. It is moments like this that show me he is doing well and thriving. My daughter shows progress bit by bit. My son has proven that he will take giant leaps in education. I will just have to plug along and wait for those moments where he scales his mountains.
We tried to tape this behemoth to his wall but it wouldn’t stay up, it was too heavy. So we threw away the body. I folded and kept the fins so that he can draw a baby whale shark later this week. The second shark we can easily tape to the wall.