There are five original industrial arts:

• Woodworking, carpentry, and joinery
• Masonry, stonecraft, and pottery
• Upholstery and needlecraft
• Metallurgy and smithing
• Glass making

Ian’s following an unconventional path for his education, and I’m glad for it. In addition to the heavy emphasis on science and music, he’s also learning one of the original industrial arts. He chose needlecraft and has been enjoying every minute of it!

My grandmother can sew incredibly well, so well that her industrial art crossed over into a fine art. Not only were her products functional and useful, but they were also beautiful. Her combinations of colors into blocks for chosen quilt patterns are absolutely stunning. Some of her quilts tell a story; some of them demonstrate treasured memories; all of them show a beautiful visual image. This quilt, for example, is a Bear in the Woods quilt. The trees, obviously, are the forest. The corner blocks are bear paws!

Ian attended a sewing camp at his learning center, Peachtree, over the summer. For four days, he learned the basics of running a sewing machine and creating simple projects. At the end of camp, he asked to sign up to take the full course for the academic school year. He began the class in August, so now he is halfway through the curriculum. Sadly, Ian is the only boy in the class. Sewing is one of those skills that somewhere along the way has been relegated to “women’s work.” Despite being the only male student in his class, Ian has asked to continue with his fiber arts studies, and he plans to enroll in Sewing II fall 2025.

For Christmas this year, Ian had two requests: dog gear and a sewing machine. His Idaho grandparents took care of the dog gear request, so Nana gifted him with the sewing machine. I never thought I’d see a twelve year old boy be so excited to get an appliance for Christmas, but he woke up today, December 26th and asked to go to Hobby Lobby for thread. So we started our day with a quick bikejour session for his 5 dogs, then we took off to Hobby Lobby with his pocket full of Christmas cash from Aunt Connie and Ms. Alanna. After a lengthy argument about why he doesn’t need to buy 15 yards of fabric, Ian finally selected the threads he needed. I also learned that Ian officially knows the layout of the store better than I do!

So this evening, tired doggies with bellies stuffed full of beef are laying all over the living room while Ian is holed up in his gear/school room. I’m not sure what he’s working on, or what all of his equipment is called, but he’s diligently cutting fabric with an item that looks like a pizza cutter, on a gridded board that magically doesn’t get cut by the pizza cutter. Then he feeds fabric through his new sewing machine which he managed to set up by himself.