Mar. 5, 2009 - Artistic Pursuit Grades K-3 Book One
For us when I heard we were recieving this art curriculum it was exciting, we enjoy art here or at least crafting - but I see being crafty as a form of art. I hadn't heard of this art curriculum before and I am glad I went into with out any preconceived ideas about what to expect. I have to admit I was worried at first when I saw the cost of the manual and then the list of needed supplies, but then after I had the manual in my hands - the worries almost went away.
The Artistic Pursuits is written by Brenda Ellis, a fellow homeschooling mom. She understands why we homeschool, to bring our children up knowing the Lord as well as to give them an education they wouldn't recieve elsewhere. Mrs. Ellis has put together an award winning art curriculum and one will see why once they recieve this wonderful curriculum.
I recieved Book One for Grades K-3 which has 32 lessons with projects. The lessons cover, art instruction plus Master Works including ancient art. The lessons begin going over what artsts do (lessons 1-10), what artists see (lessons 11-17) and where we find art (lessons 18-32) and then keys to a great art experience. Each lesson is short, so you can easily adapt it for a short attention spanned children or go into more detail for the detailed, older child. We were able to read through the lessons, read about the cooresponding work of art (orally answering the questions about the art) within 10 minutes. I would then tell Hannah what she was to do. This curriculum does not tell the student what they are to make - it will say make a mosaic and give ideas and needed items but it will not tell the student they have to use a specific subject, leaving the student to use his or her own mind in completing their art project.
Oh, it's in color. No black and white pictures of the masterpieces, the child (and you) can enjoy full color pictures of these great works of art. Also, no objectionable works of art. Sometimes you just don't know what you will be looking at when you open a art curriculum, nothing worse than a nude male statue staring your young, modest dressing daughter in the face, there is none of this in here! All the art in our book was age appropriate and also acceptable for Christians. Mrs. Ellis though is a Christian herself, so she understands that we don't need to force objectionable works of art on our young children. Please look here for sample pages. I did forget that there is drawing of a Greek man in a toga and a Minoan man with his back showing.
I mentioned I was leery of the cost of project items and I visited a local craft store to purchase a few items. I was surprised I was able to buy all the items needed except for the watercolor crayons. I also only bought 2 pounds of clay instead of the suggested 4 to 5 pounds. I was able to stay under $20.00, if I had bought another two pounds of clay and added in the water color crayons, I would have added another $14.00 dollars. This is of course because I didn't purchase the high end projects, I couldn't see paying $15.00 when I could the same amount of pastels and same colors for only $3.00!
The cost of the Grade K-3 Book One is $42.95. I know that may sound steep but trust me, this is well worth it!
Now here are some pictures of a few projects we did out of our Artistic Pursuits:
This is the project we did for Lesson 11 discussing what Artist See and this topic was Shapes.
This is for Art in Castles: Medieval Tapestry. Hannah colored on fabric and I set in with the iron. She has drawn and American flag with a tent (she wants to go camping) and herself along with clouds and happy and sad faces.
