Hello. Let me re-introduce myself first since I don't post all that often on here. I'm homeschooling two boys. One is just about 7 and going into 2nd grade next year. The other is 3, turning 4 in the summer and just going along for the ride for now. We are doing K12 this year, but I've come to accept that it just doesn't go with my son's learning style at all. He needs way more hands on, so we'll be doing our own curriculum next year. I like the classic style where everything goes in a 4 year cycle, so next year we'll be learning about the middle ages. My question is, what do you do for art? I'd like to hear what other people do so I can get an idea of what I want to do. I tried Artistic Pursuits and just didn't like it for some reason. I also could not get into Drawing with Children. I am thinking about focusing on artists from the middle ages. For example, we'll study Donatello, learn about his life some and then do our own sculpture. Would this be too boring for a 2nd grader? Is it better to just put art supplies on the table and let him have at it? Any input would be appreciated.
I try to integrate an art portion into a lot of the activities we do. Color this, paint that. Create something like . . . There is an art center around here, and I think each year we will try to do a 4 week or 6 week class in something interesting like paint or clay. Something that we won't do at home, and a teacher can go more into technique. I keep my eye on books that give me tid bits of "technique" to pass on, but I'm not an artist, so I don't have a lot personally to offer my kids. Learning about famous artists is a great start. Also time period specific art, and art projects. Also, don't forget that music and dance can all go into the "Art" area.
I try to integrate art into various subjects. We also do a study of artists. For our study of artists I checked out books of an artist from the library. We pretty much just read briefly about the artist or I read and paraphrased then we looked at pictures of the artist's work. My boys really enjoyed Norman Rockwell. I also give my little guy time to just create. He has a creative flair so he does better with just time to create rather than instructions on how to make something.
Have you seen books by Mary Ann F. Kohl?She has lots of great books for this age range. Some you can tie in with your social studies and others are just fun. Some books are grouped by artists, others by geographic region.
We are an artistic family so I haven't had the need to really do a curriculum. Someone is always drawing, painting, trying new things (probably because I have a studio in the basement and more supplies than a store.) But I have purchased Artistic Pursuits and have used in on occasions. The teen used it her junior year. We LOVE it.
We've been doing a live class at CurrClick called Art with Pilar Live but I'm not sure if it woudl be good for such young ones. When my DS was that age we used GeeArt, which is now http://www.madcaplogic.com/
art center. if you belong to a homeschool group sometimes they do something together. YMCA or your Commuinty Center might have something
Thanks for all the ideas. I hadn't heard of a few of these books, so I'll check them out. I wish we had a YMCA near us, but there's none within 100 miles. They have tons of great programs. There is a homeschool co-op, but so far, they haven't done art classes for younger kids. Hopefully they will next year. I plan on doing music too, but I was going to do that seperate. We have tons of art supplies too, because I like arts & crafts myself, though I'm no artist. My kids never ask on their own to use them and they are within easy reach. My older son doesn't like to draw or color. The closest he comes to doing that on his own is when he wants to make a book. He loves making books about different things. Other than that, I present them with an idea and they will either be interested and have fun or not and rush through it. Well anyway, thank you everyone.
