Homeschool art, one of the subjects that can strike fear into a mom’s heart on par with math or science. Whether you are gifted in artistic skill or can only draw stick figures (hey, those are cool!) art can be a hard subject to narrow down enough to avoid completely overwhelming your child and kill their love of even picking up a crayon.
Teaching Art With Any Skill Level
Using resources to help you teach art is not just for those who feel they lack skill, I often think that it is harder for someone to teach a subject that comes quickly and naturally to them. Quickly grasping how to draw, paint, even use scissors, lends itself to a practice in superhuman patience trying to teach someone who may struggle with it.
Let a guidebook, class, or online option help dissect the information into small teachable bites. This frees up your time and mind and allows your child to see the steps in a clear manner. Don’t worry, you can contribute your individual influence and style at select points. Art can be one of the most joyful subjects you will ever see your children do. You may get overwhelmed with so many options that are everywhere.
Focusing on one or two resources at a time for each stage of child development
will keep you from flitting around like a hyperventilating chihuahua trying to chase a butterfly.
This list of resources is meant to narrow it down for you instead of being an exhaustive list. After many years of using art in our homeschool, I have a few books that stay on my shelf and resources I go to regularly. For example: you will see quite a lot of references to Barry Stebbing DVD’s. He does a great job explianing, sprinkles in classical quotes and scripture, and you can pause as you go. We set up TV tray stands across the couch with a small plastic bin of our drawing materials on each tray all lined up and did this together as a family.
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Art Curriculum and Resources
Art for young ins’ | Preschool to 2nd Grade
- Ed Emberly books- From his super easy fingerprint art books to his fun monsters and firetrucks, he is a master at making each and every one of his drawn objects incredibly easy to follow. Using his books to flip through and learn to draw an ojbect or two, you can make a story scene reflecting something you’ve read in your morning basket read-aloud. Use a simple drawing for word cards or for birthday cards for grandparents. The littles will be pleased with their accomplishments. You can find these books at your library, yard sales, thriftshops, and used books online.
- Deep Space Sparkle
- Early Elementary Art Classes by Masterpiece Society
3rd Grade Through 5th Grade
- How to Draw Almost Everything for Kids by Chika Miyata
- How to Teach Art to Children by Evan Moor
- Barry Stebbing Marker Art
- Deep Space Sparkle
5th Grade through Junior High
- Barry Stebbing Beginning and Intermediate Drawing
- Seasonal Arts Courses by Masterpiece Society
- Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn F. Kohl
- Doodle Crate: montly project kit box sent to you in the mail. This kit is designed for handicrafts projects.
- World’s Greatist Artists by Confessions of a Homeschooler- art appreciation, can be paired with Great Artist projects for a hands on component
Junior High through Highschool
- Creative Bug online classes for specific delight directed topics. This is an inexpense monthly subscription with a huge library of classes including but not limeited to: mixed media art, knitting, bookbinding, chocolate making, watercolor, drawing. Sometimes your local library may have free access to their archive also.
- Barry Stebbing God and the History of Art
- Barry Stebbing Nature Drawing and Journaling
- Domestike.org- a wonderful online class resource for specific painting and drawing courses. These are paid classes that run from 4-10 sessions. They very frequently have fantastic sales that reduce prices down to $10-$14. Tip: this is a muli-language resource so please make sure the class that you want is in English unless subtitles work for you. We took a great class: Architectural Sketching with Watercolor and Ink in English from a movie script drawer living in Paris. It was simple and got us all taking pictures of historic buildings to draw in our hometown.
- How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps by Jared Blando. This book is an amazing resource for drawing and coloring adventure maps. Great for coordinating art with your Lord of the Rings reading or other adventure reading.
- Drawing From the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards “Why can’t I draw what I see or think?” Oftentimes, after about 10 years old, we don’t progress in our drawing skills. Highschool life gets busy! This book is wonderful for honing the perception skills that are the foundation of being able to draw what is actually in front of you. The ability to see is the skill that the highschooler will be able to take with them throughout their whole adulthood.
- Your local Maker Space for membership and classes in person. Here is an example: Yakima Maker Space
- Makercrate: A montly art and design tool kit set to your mailbox.
- Everyday Watercolor by Jenna Rainey
- Art School by Masterpiece Society
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