Find out a few ways you can add to your homeschool through learning about and creating Art!
Art can be an important part of homeschooling. There are several studies being researched on the importance of art for education. Sadly, the arts can be neglected easily, seen as an "extra" that is not necessary for a good education.
Homeschooling families can make art a natuaral part of their lives. Creating art and learning about great art and artists can only be beneficial to our children.
- Hang it - If we want our family to know art, they must see art. Try to hang one or two pieces of good art in your home. There are many inexpensive posters of great art available from local craft stores or on the web. Find a few that inspire you, frame them, and hang them. Pictures not your thing? A good sculpture can be a great decorative piece!
- See it - You can find books on art and artists at discount book stores, garage sales, and the library. Have a few in your home. Let your children look at the pictures. Talk about it with them. Learn about the artists. One book I have in particular has been helpful for me in learning how to talk about art with my children. Children's book illustrator Quentin Blake has a wonderful book called Tell Me A Picture. This book features paintings and drawings by 26 different artists with varied styles. The pictures are wonderfully reproduced. Blake has drawn characters that introduce each picture and ask leading questions to get you talking about it. The idea is to discuss the picture - how it makes you feel, the mood of the picture, colors used, what you think it is about. At the back of the book is a short description of every painting/drawing and artist, so you can then find out what the picture really is. This is a fun book and a good way to learn how to talk about art. You can find it at Amazon.
- Make it - Making art is a great way to learn about art. You can always take a class in art or painting or drawing. If that is not possible, find a book at your local library on drawing basics or art fundamentals. One of out favorite art exercises is learning how different colors make you feel, or this can be done with warm vs. cool colors. Set up a simple still life on a table - a cup, a plant, and a salt shaker, for instance. Have your child draw it 2 times, then paint one with only warm colors and one with only cool colors. Even young children can do this, as long as they do not expect perfection.
- Be flexible - Everyone learns differently. I have one child that literally wouuld not draw or color until he was about 6 years old. He could not get things to turn out the way he saw them in his head, and it frustrated him so much, he refused all art. Eventually, he found he enjoyed drawing comics. Then he began checking "How to Draw" types of books out from the library. However your child approaches art, encourage them. Art is so many things to so many people. Drawing, doodling, painting, cutting and glueing, tracing, painting, and the list goes on!
If you want a few suggestions for art on the web, see Websites for Art.
Explore the wonderful world of art, and have fun!
The copyright of the article Teaching Art at Home in Homeschooling is owned by Christine Alcott. Permission to republish Teaching Art at Home in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
