What do I include in a homeschool art program? The kids would like to think they’ve finished their studies for the year.
In reality, we’ve switched gears.
A couple of the girls continue their math program for a short period after breakfast, to keep the concepts alive in their minds or learn new concepts for a while longer.
So how do we include homeschool art at this time of year?
I encourage them to continue journaling, maintain their extracurricular music lessons, and practice too.
But it’s the afternoon quiet time that has qualitatively changed the rhythm of our days.
We pursue some art projects, whether on our dollar store canvasses with acrylics, sketching, or using pastels in the Impressionist colouring books.
Presently we’re painting large clay pots for the gifts of tomato plants the kids were given at the local greenhouse.
While they create their masterpieces, I read to them.
Drawing and dissecting plants.
There’s a book on plant families: who knew Queen Anne’s lace and carrots were cousins? When one of the kids brings me a flower, we dissect and count the sepals, stamens, or pistils. We determine if it’s a female flower or a male flower. Then we draw it.
Studying bird life.
There’s a book on City Birds. Because we have many fully grown trees, we’ve also got loads of birds. Though we can’t always see them all, we wake up listening to them sing their songs, cooing next to the bedroom window.
Studying fine art.
The kids especially like the book I purchased from Paris’ Louvre about pieces from the Louvre. This book details Egyptian, Greek, and Renaissance history. There’s a little bit of every sort of art, and a little bit of every era of history.
Studying classic literature.
The kids truly beg for more when I bring out the Bard of Avon storybook I snagged at a closing school. A little history of Shakespeare introduces them to some of the most clever plotlines in modern literature. Storybooks of Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Nights’ Dream are as engaging to me as they are to them.
When the formal study season rolls around again, I am always ready to begin again, but it’s this season that most enthralls me…the “find a reason to make something educational, when it’s just downright fun” spring season.
Seize the season, with an afternoon liberal arts program.
ps you can encourage your creativity too: 11 Useful Guidelines to Encourage Creativity for Homeschool Moms
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