Letting Art Just Happen in Homeschooling

January 25, 2015

Letting Art Just Happen in Homeschooling

This is the last week of the 2015 Virtual Curriculum Fair. I've had fun, have you?I can't thank Susan at Homeschooling Hearts & Minds enough for all her hard work! Her co-host this week is Lisa @ Golden Grasses. This week's theme is Seeking Beauty: The Arts and Everything That Brings Beauty to Our World.

As a curriculum reviewer, I've been blessed to review many wonderful art curriculums. But the truth of the matter is, when push comes to shove, art in our house just tends to flow as a regular extension of life and school far more often than it does as a result of some formal lesson.

I already shared last week about how our history curriculum, Mystery of History, is a often the spring board for many of our art projects, especially this year as we are studying the Renaissance. Why separate art out, when it can be studied within the context of its development? And younger kids can do more craft type activities that focus around the seasons or holidays or books you are reading, or counting, or any other lesson you might be doing. In fact, one year, many, many moons ago, we studied Eric Carle because an exhibit of his work came to our local museum. So we copied his methods of painting on tissue paper, and then used that paper to cut out illustrations for our "Yellow is the Sun" math poem for Right Start math. We made a book out of it that we still have to this day. It was art and math all rolled into one.

You can do lots of fun science and art projects too, especially in the winter. Pinterest is full of ideas. Here is a picture of some colorful frozen water balloons we made.

St. Patrick's Day is coming up...playing with borax and pipe cleaners-cool crystals in fun shapes!

And any day is good for making colorful swirls in milk with soap and food coloring.

Legos and blocks are wonderful tools to let your budding architects bring their dreams to 3-d reality. In the picture at the top of the page, my son turned his lego figures in to a Star Wars band. Here, my kids built a ziggurat out of blocks:

And this one made an entire Sumerian city out of paper and a cardboard box:

I guess my point is...this is all art. I mean, have you SEEN some of the stuff that passes as "art" these days? People splash paint on canvases willy-nilly, slap a thousand dollar price tag on it, and someone thinks it must be genius because of that. Seriously. Let your kids be kids. They'll create all by themselves. And as they do, you can talk to them. Talk about perspective. Or not. Talk about vanishing points and horizons and rule of thirds and all that stuff. Or don't. If your kids show an inclination toward the arts, as at least one of mine does, then either a) their interest will guide them further because they will want to get better or b) you will be able to easily find them materials to teach them more because it matter to them to learn it. Otherwise, it's probably going to come up at some later point in time anyway, and they will learn it then when it's applicable.

My son designs amazing things on Minecraft, and it's boosted his real life artistic ability. My daughter, who has always been good with "real life" art has recently transitioned to digital design with great success. Don't dismiss online forms of art as just that-art. That's the world they will be living in much more so that we do even now,

There are wonderful art programs out there...but there's also just life....and Pinterest...and if I had to recommend a resource, I'd throw in these books that we love and use:

and all the others in the same series for your younger kiddos and then these:

and the others in the series for your slightly older kids. They teach how to draw historical things step by step, and we love both series.

So that's it-just let art happen, and be prepared to be amazed!

To see what other blogger had to say about Seeking Beauty: The Arts and Everything That Brings Beauty to Our World, check out the blogs listed below. If you have a link you'd like to contribute, you can sign the link at the bottom.

The Art of Organization…or How Clutter Almost Ruined My Homeschool by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds

The Shadow of Divine Perfection by Lisa @ Golden Grasses

Relaxed Homeschooling: Fine Arts in the Early Elementary Years by Brittney @ Mom's Heart

Fine Arts {Art Appreciation, Art, Composer Study Hymn Study} for 2015 by Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

Adding Sparkle to Home Education by Sarah @ Delivering Grace

And All the Extras by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

Teaching Art Using the Bible by Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker

Art In Every Subject by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break

Letting Art Just Happen in Homeschool by Amy @ One Blessed Mamma

Missing Art? by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset

Do YOU Have Time for Extracurriculars? by Michele@ Family, Faith and Fridays

Fine Arts in Our Classical / Charlotte Mason Homeschool by Sharra @ The Homeschool Marm