Work in progress

The 11 year old had asthma and was off school for 3 days during the last week of school. He wasn't unwell, but his asthma was too unstable for him to be at school- which meant that he was at home, looking for things to do. We have a small local agricultural show and the 'show schedule' was floating about- so J made that his reading material. And he got busy- circling, highlighting (making a generally messy page) of the 'under 13 section'. He worked out that a particular section had an aggregate prize, for the person with the most points over about 12 different classes.
I haven't got the list on me, but it was fairly ambitious!

"An article made from paper mache" was on the list...

This turned into a prize winning paper mache pig! He also put in a stitchery, applique, article made from recycled material, a card, hand painted article...and a few others. He worked really hard to finish his entries, getting abit disillusioned at the persistence required at times! He was so self-driven, I was impressed.
I did warn him that a win wasn't guaranteed, pointing out that he might be up against kids doing textiles in Year 7 who had more experience than him, but he was pretty confident telling me "even if that's true Mum, I am pretty happy with the quality of the things I have put up". He wavered once on the day it came to delivering the entries into the show for judging..."Will these things have my name on them?"- I explained that if he won or came second they would, but otherwise no "Why?"..."Oh, just cause if my mates see them with my name on them, they might tease me for doing girly things".
Happily for him he 'scooped the pool", came home with a $15.00 voucher and $8 in prizes ($1 a win)- technically minus $5 for the entry fees- 50c x 10)- and I wonder if he will be keen next year to head back and defend his title!