Our new art curriculum

While at the homeschool conference this spring, I attended a workshop entitled "Why art is essential to your child's education." Dan and I weren't really sure which workshop we wanted to go to during that time slot as none of them we felt very strongly about, so we picked two that piqued our interest. Dan wasn't interested in the art topic so he went to one on physical education at home. I chose the art one. I knew that this workshop was sponsored by a vendor, but I still wanted to hear what she had to say. I know that art is important but often gets pushed aside, so I wanted a little encouragement. I certainly hadn't planned on buying a new curriculum. I didn't really figure I needed one since I had one at home, and I really like art. It was one of my favorite subjects in high school.

At the beginning of the workshop, the speaker gave the history of the art curriculum called Atelier Art . It was begun by an art teacher who was passionate about teaching art to kids in schools whose art programs had been cut. Kids would come either before or after school to learn art. This video-based program is now used by public schools in at least 3 states and has been reconfigured for homeschool use. The lessons are 12-20 minutes long although an art session actually takes around an hour since I usually pause the video so the kids can finish whatever step they are on before moving to the next step.

During the talk the speaker also gave personal testimony to the use of art in helping kids in other areas of their schoolwork. She has two children--one who is gifted and one who is dyslexic and has a couple of learning disabilities. Art made her gifted child actually slow down (not academically--he just is gifted and does everything quickly) and think about things a bit differently. Art helped her dyslexic child learn how to read and improved her math scores.

One of the great tactics that the speaker used was letting us try an art lesson. She gave us each a sheet of paper and a pencil and made us do a lesson. It was great! So we bought it.

Darin and Natalie learned about the use of line on their first lesson. They drew turtles. Here are their pictures--the first is Darin's picture, the second is Natalie's.





Ellie and Kara's second lesson was on color. Ellie's balloon is on the left, Kara's is on the right.