I am not the world’s best artist. As a matter of fact, my idea of drawing people usually involves a whole lot of “stick” lines, and perhaps a set of triangles put together to make a bow, as well as some eyelashes, to indicate which of those stick figures is a girl. Because of this deficit in the area of drawing, I was thrilled when
Artistic Pursuits
I am proud to introduce you to Artistic Pursuits. I will admit that teaching art was not my strong point. Mostly art classes in my home consisted of activities I looked up online or using my own imagination. While I came up with some creative and fun ideas, I was not teaching art but allowing my children to use different mediums to express themselves visually.
Get Your Hands on Learning!
I have recently had the pleasure to read the first e-book by Kris, the widely read author of the blog Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. The book, in true WUSH fashion, features games, projects, learning centers, and presentations all with a focus on hands on learning. Get Your Hands on Learning! has four main sections, as well as an appendix full of even more information. The sections
Usborne Art Treasury
After many years of homeschooling, seven to be exact, I finally made an effort to include art appreciation in our school day. I decided to use The Usborne Art Treasury as our “spine”. The book introduces artists of many genres – from African masks to Vincent van Gogh to Georgia O’Keefe. Each artist is covered on four pages. The first two pages introduce one piece of
Atelier Art
I have been homeschooling for almost 7 years now and for most of those years, I felt guilty about the lack of a structured art program within our homeschool. Now, we did lots of art projects and the children took art classes outside our home but I always wanted a structured art program that we could do at home on a regular basis. I wanted
Christmas Lessons
It’s that “most wonderful time of the year” again! Many homeschool families take the entire month of December off while others continue on with their regular school routine. In years past we have taken a break from our regular studies – even the 3R’s – to focus on some type of Christmas unit. This year, however, because of some unexpected changes in our schedule, we
Usborne Introduction to Art
Our family completes artist study once per month during the school year. We focus on one artist during that month – learning about their life, observing their art and completing art projects of our own. One super book that has helped us during this art study time is The Usborne Introduction to Art by Rosie Dickins and Mari Griffith. Even more than being a specific
Draw Write Now
We enjoy incorporating art into our unit studies. There are many ways to accomplish this, but one of my favorites is to have my children do a lesson from Draw Write Now, a series of books containing beginning drawing lessons and handwriting practice for primary and elementary students. The author, Marie Hablitzel, developed this collection of lessons for her second-grade students after seeing that they were becoming