BSM, I'm glad you have a workable solution and hope it relieves stress for your family!

DS has not enjoyed art since he left the Montessori school he was in -- although the teachers seem nice, there seems to be a lot of emphasis on doing things a certain way. When that doesn't work for him (usually because he can't do it perfectly as some classmates can), he feels badly. He's pretty much given up on art. At 9.