Last year, Christian drew portraits of some of the people on whom he wrote his report on the internal combustion engine. This year, he wants to do it again, but with some skills we hope to pick up with our new art program, Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces by Carrie Stuart Parks.  There are four weeks left before the reports are due and we have all the materials to start our work on this, but the homeschool work load is heavy enough that it will take a big effort to make enough time to learn the new techniques in time to include the new style drawings in the reports.  I have told the kids that we can work on the drawing class on weekends and in the evening when I get home from work if, and only if, all of the homework is complete.  I am really looking forward to this and hope we can make enough progress to influence the quality of the report drawings, but will be checking the lists carefully to assure everything is complete before we jump into any drawing lesson.  It is very important not to start something new if it will cause us not to finish our school year well.