Homeschool Art

Curriculum and Projects

Homeschool art for grade schoolers usually requires about hour per week during the school term. Generally, three areas need to be addressed throughout the year. The specifics can be tailored to your family. That is, exactly how, what and when you teach the three categories can vary.

You need to cover the following:

Appreciation--One idea--choose a year to read an art history book. Skip a year or two, then repeat art appreciation with another text. Each student will then have several years, a solid foundation, of appreciation before high school.

Special Extras:

*Find out if your local library rents paintings.

*Collect prints of the great masters.

**Use the Metropolitan Museum of Art website regularly. It is a beautiful, extensive resource which can be used through high school.

With continual exposure, youngsters will become naturally familiar with and fond of the great masters and their timeless works.

Ability--Buy a sketch pad and pencils for your child. Make time each week just for observation of nature and sketching. Encourage the child to just play with this. Also drawing books are widely available. Check at the library for possibilities.

Experiment with what works with your child. If your student is excited about learning to draw, continue as much as possible! If he isn't so enthused, at least try to complete one year of basic drawing. Rotate this with the other two facets of art education.

Activity--Arts and craft projects round out the curriculum.

Initially, our art and crafts class was Friday afternoon. But when the youngsters were older, this elective was crowded out by the difficult core subjects. So we switched homeschool art to Thursday mornings.

Most of the following ideas have been tried and tested over a span of 18 years. My children truly enjoyed and benefited from them. So here we go!

• poster paints, colored ink or stamp pads (less messy)
• white paper
• colored pencils or felt-tip pens
• a damp cloth to wipe your fingers throughout

Ink the tip of your finger very lightly.

Experiment with different amounts of paint & pressure until you find one you like.

Press it on the paper so you have a fingerprint.

(A thumb will be bigger, a pinkie smaller.)

Use the pencils/pens to finish the drawing--head, legs, whiskers, ears, wings, beaks, etc. The options are endless. Make them as detailed as you want. (ideas for objects to make: bunnies, butterflies, leaves, fish, flowers)

If you like this, create an entire scene with your favorites.

More Art/Crafts Projects

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