Best Ways to Teach Homeschool Art

What you need to know to teach homeschool art

How can we teach homeschool art to our children so they can express themselves creatively? Some children love to let the creative juices flow and parents just need to encourage and provide resources and ideas, but for others, parents need to be far more directive in order to help their children to experiment and enjoy this dimension of their being.

Here are my top home school ideas to help you teach homeschool art and as this is the art sitemap, it is the hub of ideas which leads you to other pages on homeschool art and gives you step by step help to create your own homeschool art curriculum plan.

What makes a homeschool art curriculum?

In order to define a few things and give the bigger perspective on how to teach homeschool art as a subject, I have written an Art Overview page. This helps to explain what makes a homeschool art curriculum and defines the teaching of art into Artistic Elements, Principles of Design and Art Techniques.

Art is a way in which children can express themselves using a variety of mediums and in different ways. Homeschool Art is the way we make Art part of our day as homeschooling families, how we incorporate it into our lives and how we go about teaching Art. Find out what a homeschool art curriculum and how to teach homeschool art in your family.

Create an art space in your home

Firstly, you need to have all sorts of materials around. If you are able to set up a small area in your house, where the materials are kept and can be readily available, that is ideal.

Depending on the age of your family, you could have coloured scraps of paper, scissors, glue, old magazines, coloured pages and cardboard for finished creations.

We have an stack of drawers called our "Making Boxes" and inside those boxes we have all sorts of things you may need to create a card, draw a picture, find the pens, glue, paper etc.

Make TIME for homeschool art projects

The second most important ingredient to teach art is time. You cannot expect masterpieces in a quick, hurried 15 minute time-slot. My children often draw (with fine-tipped felt pens, pencils, textas, pastels, or crayon pastels) while I am reading aloud. They illustrate some of their notebooks or work in their Drawing books.

So, the really important part of teaching art is to give them time. They will need time to experiment, to trial things and to test things out, especially if you want it to become something they practice and want to improve on.

Teach homeschool art across the curriculum with project ideas

This is a very broad subject and can include many different art mediums across the curriculum areas. We have used paper mache for castles and horses, knights helmets. This tied in well when studying the middle ages in our homeschool history.

We have used plaster of paris when we made small frescoes (Renaissance time-period). We created costumes and armour as well as painted on windows.

We have made a large models using paper mache and wire to create a town scene for cars and train tracks.

This was huge! We also made a large mosaic of a Biblical event. We used oil paints and copied some old masters during our Renaissance study. We have used pottery at others times and used the pottery wheel to make cups and vases. We have enjoyed limestone sculpture and chiseling away at large and small limestone rocks. It is also great to create from nature: pinecones, clay, gum-nuts and so on. Allow all of your experiences and learning become homeschool art projects!

Teach homeschool art history by entering the time

Homeschool Art Living Books - Trade and Empire time period

In our homeschool, Art studied in its historical setting, has enabled us to appreciate and interact with different types of art forms and see changes in cultures and style.

We noticed that in ancient Egypt, the paintings followed a rigid formula: broad shoulders, narrow hipped figure, wearing a headdress and a kilt, standing rigidly or in the guise of hunting, one arm on either side of his body and one leg advanced. In Greek, we saw a breakthrough in realistic work, in which some say the birds even came down to peck at the fruit in the murals. We have also been able to see how art is an expression of the culture and the philosophies of the time period.

So, as we study different time periods, we study art in that period and also study the artists of that time. I have been able to source a number of books through the years - prints, calendars, magazines which can help to study one artist at a time. Living books are an excellent way to enter a time period of an artist and get to know their life and what was happening around them. If this interests you, you can find out more about studying history and the history of art in a chronological manner and other art history homeschool ideas here.

Homeschool art curriculum and textbooks

As in all other subject areas, Art has its foundations, rules, techniques and styles which can be taught one principle at a time sequentially. This is not to say that in the midst of all the foundational teaching, there is no room for creativity. Rather, while we teach the foundations, we are giving children the tools to be creative. This is an important part of how to teach homeschool art in your family as it gives the groundwork for many art techniques and teaches art skills.

Barry Stebbing's art curriculum

We have used some homeschool art curriculum and texts to teach drawing. I have used Barry Stebbing's Art Books.
These have been great to teach art - specifically, drawing with pencils and markers and painting step by step. With my young children, I introduce the concept and do a brief drawing myself and then they continue to work in their own art books on that particular lesson. They continue to draw and colour, while I read aloud. The older children, can pace themselves through the book and learn by themselves.

Artistic Pursuits art curriculum

This homeschool art curriculum is comprehensive, teaches the Elements of Art; observational skills; views the works of artists and looks at the Principles of Design; and encourages unique, original work which is a culmination of the unit. Included in each book is a set of fine art reproductions focusing on a particular time period. More information on Artistic Pursuits

Artistic Pursuits

Barry Stebbing Curriculum

Atelier Art Curriculum

Teaching elements of art - one element at a time

I have already discussed the Elements of Art in the Art Overview , and one way to teach homeschool art is by focusing on one element at a time, exploring it, observing it in nature (God is always the author; Man just recognizes what He has already place there), viewing it in works of Art and then using it in one's own original creation.

Go to Teaching Elements of Art

Artistic Pursuits is a curriculum which teaches the Elements of Art in this way.

Teach the techniques of art

By teaching Art Techniques you can work on homeschool art projects and explore painting, drawing, modeling and sculpture, print-making, pottery, handcrafts and so on. If you teach art using the techniques, it is good to spend some time with each technique and explore it in various ways.

Teach homeschool art in Nature Study

Teach homeschool art with a nature journal

Teaching homeschool art through nature study has been a lovely way to enjoy art and the outdoors simultaneously. Once again, this is a part of our homeschooling I love, but it tends to be neglected. I wish this wasn't the case. I have the most beautiful resources for making a lovely nature journal. It is probably one of my most loved books on my shelf. I just melt when I look at this book for inspiration!

Keeping a Nature Journal

Homeschool art websites including online art lessons

One of the excellent things about online home education is that you can view art lessons either as video lessons as well as participate in virtual art classes. We have enjoyed a few of these. We have loved being a part of Mark Kistler's art classes and we have downloaded others from You Tube.

It is really worthwhile watching art lessons online as you can see the artist move step by step and you also have the opportunity to stop and replay any part of the video. A few websites you might like to check out are:

SchoolhouseTeachers.com - has a huge amount of homeschool online art classes for all different ages - online art lessons.
Meet the Masters. This program helps the student imitate the art work of 35 different artists. The lessons are geared to 3 different levels, so you can purchase them to suit the age of the children.