Hi fellow homeschoolers! Since I know a lot of you are out there contemplating your curriculum for next year, I thought it would be fun to do a curriculum series where we can all talk about our favorites.
My “plan” is to discuss one subject per day with you all. I’ll of course share my picks for the subject, and then you will all be free to leave a comment on this post regarding your favorites as well!
So today I wanted to talk about your favorite art program, curriculum, unit study, website, or resource. Feel free to leave a comment below with your top art picks and why so we can all share our wisdom with one another!
One of my favorite art curriculum is the See The Light Art DVDs. Not only do I NOT have to teach the actual lesson, but I can participate! And the kids love the lessons and we have been really impressed with their finished products as well.
Pros:
- The art project DVDs include wonderful art techniques and instruction via video lessons.
- You can stop, pause, or replay the lessons as needed.
- Supplies are fairly normal, they don’t usually require anything that is hard to find.
Cons:
- Some of the lessons can be quite long, and my students will sometimes “fast-foward” through some of the slower parts.
- The DVD price might be a little high depending on your budget.
I love the Home Art Studio DVDs they have really fun art projects. They are sold by grade level, which might not work as well if you have multiple-grades represented in your home. But I’ve found that for the most part, if you pick a DVD between the upper grades in your home, you can have everyone do a project from one DVD and it seems to be okay. There have been a few times where it was more difficult for my youngest, but I don’t expect her work to be the same level as her older sister. So we just go with it and they’ve done fine. The DVDs may cost a bit more, but they also take the pressure off of you to teach a lesson. If you’re not comfortable teaching art, you can simply gather the required materials and let the DVD do the teaching for you.
Pros:
- Great video led art lessons, lessons are challenging, fun, and well laid out. They also have some free lessons on their website as well.
Cons:
- Price. They are purchased by grade level which can get kind of expensive if you have multiple grades using it. They also only have lessons for K-4th as of right now.
And of course we are having a wonderful time doing our Greatest Artists Units as well! I have two volumes out now for you all.
What Artists are included in Vol 1?
- Pablo Picasso
- Vincent Van Gogh
- Jackson Pollock
- Claude Monet
- Henry Matisse
- Georgia O’keefe
- Michelangelo
- Leonardo Da Vinci
What artists are included in Vol. 2?
Some of my favorite art resources are found for free online! Here are my top art websites:
So, now comes the fun part!
What are your favorite art curriculum, resources, websites, etc? Leave a comment below discussing your choices for art this year and why.
Feel free to ask questions or reply to each other too!
It’s my way of doing a forum without actually doing a forum haha!
And hopefully this will help us all as we start the process of researching curriculum, and trying to decide what will be the best fit for our homeschool.
Note: Please keep today’s conversations geared towards ART, I will be posting one for each subject separately so we can keep our comments organized.
Disclosure: This was not a sponsored post, I may however be affiliated with one or more products mentioned. The opinions expressed in this post were not influenced by the company. They are products I have used and felt like sharing, cuz’ it’s my blog and I can if I want to.
We just started a small co-op for elementary age kids. We are looking for an art curriculum that would work great for all ages (K-3rd.) Any suggestions? Thank you!
It felt more like a craft-making book than an ‘art’ instruction book. The only thing nice about it was the occasional famous painting shown in it. I would pass on this one. Art and design remains a compulsory national curriculum subject at key stages 1 to 3 Math Fractions Learn Math Online. New statutory programmes of study will be introduced from September 2014.The disapplied programmes of study for art and design at key stages 1 and 2, and the attainment target level descriptions, are accessible from the links on these pages.
http://www.ipracticemath.com/Learn
We’ve used the K12 art program (which uses lot of the Come Look with Me series) and while it taught some good skills as well as art history, I wanted more flexibility. Also tried using Meet the Masters. The only thing I didn’t like about it was that I felt it was hard to adapt for a variety of age levels (4-12 are the ages of my four school age kids) but I did like the art history portion to spark discussion. Now, I’ve settled on using Deep Space Sparkle. I really like the flexibility of it (we can do artist, literature, or seasonally themed projects) and it’s just fun for my kids. They have enjoyed the art they’ve produced using Deep Space Sparkle the most of any of the programs we have used. I like only having to purchase the lessons I’d like to use, although I’m sure it can add up over time unless you take advantage of the free lessons too. If we are doing artist specific studies, I supplement with some fun books with biographical info on artists, and websites with pictures of their artwork. The literature studies are great for my littler kids and my older kids don’t mind doing these as well because they think they are just fun. My favorites are the video lessons but there are only a few available at the moment. However, I emailed Patty yesterday to tell her how much I love her site and she mentioned that she is coming out with a new literature and artist based curriculum that would be perfect for home schoolers. Sounds like it will be out late fall of 2014. She mentioned that it will have lots of videos to accompany it. Super excited about this and I’m praying that it is reasonably priced!
You did an review or giveaway a while back for some art lessons that were online? If my memory serves me, the website was cutesy and all the lessons were online? I did a search on your blog but I am having a hard time finding the post. Can you please help me out? Thanks!
I am a homeschool mom of 3 children. One in 4th grade, one in 7th and the other in 10th. We used Atelier and Deep Space Sparkle. The videos had a lot of content but lessons weren’t as engaging as my kids hoped it would me they would be. Overall Atelier worked better for my 4th grader. Also, it was a lot of money spent on a course that my 7th and 10th grader finished in like 3 months (they love art). This year we tested out another option called Sparketh and so far I’m really impressed. The courses were a bit too advanced for my 4th grader but my other two kids love it! I pay $25 a month to access a bigger library of courses than Atelier and Deep Space Sparkle and, on top of that, new courses are added weekly so my kids never get bored. The courses are streamed online instead of DVDs so I see them watching videos on their phone and in the car. The videos have these cool little graphics in them that explain the courses better too. So, as of right now I’m happy with Atelier for my 4th grader and Sparketh for 7th and 10th grader. I’ll keep you guys updated on how everything pans out after we test it longer.
I know that this is an old thread, but since the comments are still open I’ll drop my two cents on it. I’m developing an art curriculum for teens at a high school fine arts level.
It’s going to be online. Not a kids craft book, not a follow along with me class, and no long boring videos that drag on.
It will include short weekly videos that explain essential concepts, assign an art challenge, break down the assignment into bite size pieces and wrap up with focus demonstration of essential techniques.
Each student’s project will be unique to them allowing them to experience creative freedom within each assignment.
I’m going to include a private community forum for students to give and receive feedback and marking.
Art history research projects will be included.
And multiple mediums will be covered including pencil, pencil crayons, ink, pastels, watercolor, acrylic paint and sculpture.
If it sounds interesting you can check out my site inspire my artist.