Doodling on Schoolwork

I seem to remember a few things from my childhood differently from the way they really were. For example, I was taught to not doodle on schoolwork in elementary school, and I passed that directive on to my own students.

Apparently I was never actually taught that and my memory is off, or perhaps it was that I did not listen to my own teachers very well!

 In going through the boxes of old school work that my mother had saved for me,

I discovered that I drew horses (what else?) all over my school work! (I read and wrote about them, too.)

 From Math assignments

and scratch paper

and even Science, it is clear that my mind was frequently not on what was going on at school, but dreaming about horses instead.

I even used the old trick of eraser art - removing the color on the cover of a book with an eraser. Look closely and you can see an ink drawing of a horse on this cover, too.)

Year after year of school, my papers are covered in horses (and once in a while, a mermaid. Go figure.)

My artwork has not improved much in the intervening years, but I do still occasionally doodle horses on papers. And, when I was grading the work of my students who were horsey like me, I'd often draw them a little smiling pony next to their grade.

My mother always told me that she could document my love of horses back to when I was two. I wish she were still living - I'd love to explore that more with her now.