Ahh, art. A subject I shy away from but a subject my daughter loves.
My daughter’s interest in art has grown over time and this year I really wanted to dive in and make this a core part of our homeschool. Not just random art projects, but also studying artists.
My daughter is in 4th grade and although she loves art she doesn’t always love my ideas, so this isn’t going to be smooth sailing all of the time. But, I want to challenge her to think outside of her comfort zone and current interests.
I have a few resources I am using, and honestly creating what works for us one week at a time. I don’t have a grand plan – I tend to get too overwhelmed, just a road ahead guided loosely by two main ideas. I want to expose her to artists and their work – in a fun and natural way, and I want her to create fun art!
I am not connecting the two since I know that too would overwhelm me. I admire those of you who really get into art with your homeschool kids, but this simple plan is a huge stretch for me. I am sharing my plans since I know there are many other homeschool moms out there like me.
{disclaimer – some links below are affiliate}
Resources We Are Using
- Masterpiece Society
- Schoolhouseteachers.com courses: Discovering Art History, Learning About Art & Elementary Art
- Famous Artists Volume 1
- Youtube Videos: Famous Artists for Kids {playlist from FreeSchool} and more.
The Weekly Plan
I have art scheduled on two days of the week for us and am leaving plenty of time for us to not feel rushed. On one day we are doing our artist study, with whatever resources I choose from the sources listed above. If I have a lot of time to plan it might be elaborate. If I don’t have a lot of planning time, we might read a book and watch a video. I am leaving myself lots of wiggle room so I don’t get overwhelmed and just give up.
To begin our artist study, we went with Michelangelo, and read books, watched a few videos and learned as much as we could without a major plan. Nothing to overwhelmingly special – but more than I have done before, so it’s a win!
On the other day, we will be doing an art project together. Some I will let her choose and others I will plan for us {that’s the ‘pull her out of her comfort zone’ part of this}. Most of the art projects we do will come from our Masterpiece Society membership.
For our first week of homeschool, I planned a project I knew she would love since she prefers watercolor painting and she loves animals. In the photos below you can see the iPad set up with the example. There’s a video lesson and the graphic of the project for inspiration. This specific project was from the Playful Pet Portrait set, which is included with a studio membership, or can be purchased separately.
Her finished turtle, I LOVE it!
I made one too! I love how ours are so different. We had a LOT of fun painting together and I think that will be a game changer this year.
I am sharing much more on my Instagram account now, it is becoming more of a mini-blog, so be sure to follow us over there to see more art projects and more of our homeschool in general.
