Homeschool Art: Simplicity Works

By Sandra

I‘ve been contemplating what kind of art to teach with my kids in the next school year. I’ve seen so many curricula that can easily be applied at home. But the first semester of our art lessons, I’ve concluded, will be comprised of pencil drawings. Believe it or not, we’ve never delved into drawing basics at our homeschool.

As someone inexperienced with drawing, I wanted to find something that looks easy and fun, not overwhelming for a beginner. I’m hoping my kids will enjoy the practice, and the process of learning and improving, and not feel the pressure to compete for a ribbon at some homeschool fair!

So we’ve decided to use Draw Squad by Mark Kistler. It comes highly recommended by a homeschool mom I know. Over the summer months, she has discovered that her son, age 9, has become an art enthusiast because of this book. Based on the instruction in the book, drawing has become something he can pick up and follow step-by-step, and later reflect on his progress. The objects in each lesson are easily finished in several simple, sequential boxes, each of which prompts the student to add a line or two, till the drawing is complete. She loves that her son feels a sense of accomplishment and is encouraged to continue on. I’m looking forward to observing this with my children, too. I think simple is excellent, sometimes. And if art can be fun, too, it creates another learning pathway for life. The book is available for purchase at Rainbow Resource. I’ve also discovered that Kistler now has video classes available online. Check out the options at his School of Imagination by visiting Mark Kistler's Online Art Lessons.

So you’re not looking for drawing instruction this year, but interested in another recommendation? I’ve found Discovering Great Artists (Kohl) to be a fantastic kick-start to studying accomplished artists and imitating their works. One of the features I love about this book is that it has photos of children’s art based on the lesson shared. So if the artist is Picasso, there would be a few paragraphs describing Picasso’s life, a list of materials for the art project, and instructions to achieve a work in the similar style illustrated. On each page, the authors have provided a symbol for easy identification of the difficulty level. Artists are conveniently indexed by styles and mediums, in case you’re searching for favorites. Time periods of the artists are also listed on each page, so coordinating a project with a period of history is a breeze.

If you’re interested in something a tad more interactive, I also recommend the online art program called Meet the Masters. I used this one for two years, and my children greatly benefited. This program is designed to teach about the life of the artist, and it instructs students based on their developmental age groupings. As a teacher, I enjoyed this program because each artist “spoke” to the class, as the children either saw a picture of the artist, or a room where the artist created his work. It cultivated a nice connection to the person behind the art.