Art still remains to be one of those subjects I tend to drop the ball on every year in our homeschool. Now we do some art throughout the year, but it is just not in heavy rotation. We recently were given the opportunity to review the “Have I Got a Story for You” during the Renaissance period. You may be familiar with us writing about this program known as HIGASFY from a few years back, we are excited to review the Renaissance period.
“Have I Got a Story for You” is a downloaded art curriculum that can be done at your own pace. There are 12 fun downloadable videos. The videos are fun, and interactive the HIGASFY team has done a great job of making the videos relatable to younger and older students. Along with the corresponding videos you receive:
40 flashcards
Name the Artist Assessment (Powerpoint)
Cross-Curricular activities in writing, history, science, and geography
The target grade level is the 1st-8th grade, Mrs. Beth makes art come alive for your student. This program would work great as a family subject the way it is laid out. Gasfy is such a great companion to Mrs. Beth as she takes your student through the wonderful world of art history. Who is Gasfy? He is the cute little green paint drop that helps Mrs. Beth teach the lessons. The videos average about 22-23 mins and the activities are fun and quick to complete. Everything you need is laid out for you all you need to do is follow the lesson and pick your activities and you are all set. I know what you are thinking what about art supplies? You don’t need a bunch of fancy art supplies to complete the “Have I Got a Story for You” Ressinance Period.
The “Have I Got a Story for You” Renaissance Period program covers Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. These are all respected artists during the Renaissance period; if your student has never been exposed to these artists this is a great program. Mrs. Beth and Gasfy do a great job explaining the lives of these artists. The lesson plans also include critical thinking questions and advanced student lessons. Students will find the lesson activities engaging. Each lesson also includes vocabulary words and beautiful art visuals for your student.
We are currently working our way through ancient civilization in our current history lessons. In the next few months, we will be moving into the renaissance period and my plan is to use the “Have I Got a Story for You” Renaissance Period on Fridays for our art lessons. My son is familiar with HIGASFY because we have used it previously and he enjoyed it.
If you are looking for a low-maintenance and easy-to-implement art program that your kids would love I highly recommend you check out “Have I Got a Story for You” Renaissance Period. Keep in mind “Have I Got a Story for You” Renaissance Period is a downloadable art curriculum for your family. If you would like to read our older review of HIGASFY please feel free to check out our previous review.
I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew!
The crew was given the opportunity to review ARTistic Pursuits: Painting with Watercolor Pencils, Art Core 2.It is an excellent opportunity to study again for this great company, we have reviewed several of their other levels they have been a pleasure to have in our home.
This year we shifted our homeschooling focus to a more relaxed Waldorfish curriculum. One of the benefits of this switch is incorporating more into our lesson. Most importantly use more watercolors in our artwork. I personally don’t have a lot of knowledge on water coloring painting so I am learning alongside my son. Painting with Watercolor Pencils, Art Core 2 is not like typical watercolor instructions your student is using watercolor pencils! If you are not familiar with ARTistic Pursuits they have homeschooled art curricula with 8 eight levels for K-3, upper elementary, and middle school.
Painting with Watercolor Pencils, Art Core 2 instructions are available on DVD/Blue Ray or digital access through your personal dashboard. You also can purchase the supplies kit to go along with the curriculum. There are 36 lesson illustrated lessons included in the hardcover book and 9 video lessons that are the same as the book. Mrs. Brenda breaks the lesson down in easy-to-follow steps. I really enjoyed the color swatch videos, because I know all watercolors aren’t created equal so it was nice that she went through these swatches with the different types of watercolor pencils. The introduction videos were very helpful in getting used started with watercolor painting because I wasn’t aware of the different colors and how they blend together and create beautiful masterpieces.
We slowly worked our way through lesson one of Painting with Watercolor Pencils, Art Core 2, we learned about wash and line and hard and soft lines. My son instantly noticed that the amount of pressure you use with your open will determine the light and deepenest of the color when activated. Would you look at that I am using artist lingo…LOL! We practiced our technique a few times a week because we needed a lot of practice before we felt comfortable moving on. The online streaming service is a major plus with this curriculum because it allows you to have a personal lesson in your home at your pace.
Painting with Watercolor Pencils, Art Core 2 is the second level in the upper elementary series. I really think we need to try out the first level, I was super excited to see the watercolors book and I choose this one to review, but my son said he wants the first one because he wants to learn how to draw like Mrs. Brenda. He always gets excited when a new ARTistic Pursuits book arrives in the mail. Painting with Watercolor Pencils, Art Core 2 is a wonderful curriculum, I love the online streaming and the use of watercolor pencils I don’t feel as intimidated by using watercolors.
Last year when my son and I were studying voting rights I remember the frustration I had writing down the timeline of the sequence of events on our board. I wanted him to have a visual keepsake of this important historical time period. So on our little whiteboard, I squeezed as much as I could and left it up there for a week as we studied. When it came time to erase it I took a picture of it and went on a hunt to find a way to record things for our history. What I was finding I wasn’t happy with so our timeline would have to live on my phone in the meantime. Then it happened The Schoolnest published a History Timeline notebook.
About The Schoolnest
Megan is a Michigan homeschool mom of 2 littles who is bringing love for learning through art, nature, creativity, and reading. Her approach to education is respecting the beauty of childhood and play. You can’t help but notice how she embraces Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, and Montessori philosophies in her homeschool. Her website is full of beautifully crafted simple journals, notebooks, and homeschool resources. She also writes a wonderful blog that is full of helpful ideas for parenting, homeschooling, art, and mindfulness. All are welcome on The Schoolnest website and blog, I found several diverse blog posts and literature recommendations.
I was so happy when Megan the founder of The Schoolnest launched her rainbow notebooks, from the first glance on her Instagram I knew I had to have them all. I purchased several of the notebooks for our school year then she published her History Timeline and it blew me away because it was exactly what I needed.
The History Timeline notebook is one the most unique books I have seen. The notebook gives you the ability to track history from:
Prehistory
Ancient
Middle Ages
Early Modern
Modern Times
What I feel like is a great family heirloom in History Timeline, is the beginning pages called “My History” I love these pages because we can record our family history and document things we felt were important to us during a year. The paper quality is excellent there are 115 pages and there are blank pages at the end. The entire is book is grid paper except for the dates, there is also B.C.E-C.E also included. There is plenty of space to write and post pictures, drawings, and clippings for creativity. The grid paper is excellent for writing and helping students contain their writings neatly. What I like about this timeline notebook is that it is just that a notebook. I can keep everything contained neatly in one spot and it is easy to flip through and we can use this 1 notebook over a long period of time.
The History Notebook is great for notebooking. We have used ours to notebook our unit study of Mesoamerica and currently, we are working on Ancient China. We study so much history in our home and notebooking has allowed him to have fun with notebooking. In the history notebook, there are 100 pages on the left page is 1/3 blank and the rest of the page is a grid. On the right side, the bottom is lined and the top is blank. There is a blank table of contents page and a study reference page. Kids can draw, color, cut and paste, make notes, and be creative. We have added pictures and written notes in our history notebook and added notebook printables. The paper quality is excellent, writes, glues, and colors smoothly.
Rainbow Notebooks
If you are looking to explore the other notebooks in The Schoolnest collection you will not be disappointed. So far we have collected:
Science
Vocabulary
Spelling
Mathematics
Commonplace
Project Planner
Reading Journal
4th Grade
All of the notebooks come in 12 vibrant rainbow colors, 8.5 x 11, matte softcover, and superior binding. The Schoolnest notebooks are inexpensive ($8) and can be purchased from Amazon. If you are in the market for a planner The Schoolnest has you covered she has a Homeschool Lesson Planning Notebook, you can check out a review of this great planner on Brittany Olga Youtube and Home Life with Quin 5 Instagram (Planner and Reading Journal) and check out Mama Sweet Baby (Spelling Notebook).
The Schoolnest notebooks are a must-have for your homeschool if you haven’t checked them out I highly recommend you do. We love our notebooks and I am looking forward to seeing any new books The Schoolnest publishes.
This post contains affiliate links at no extra charge to you the reader.
As a homeschool mom, I have always been stuck on what part of history to teach in our home and how. There are so many wonderful curricula you can choose from, but if you are looking for true gentle history the choices tend to narrow down immensely. We enjoy unit study learning in our home and at times we just want to step away from traditional textbook history and have fun. I was really happy when The Learn & Live Letter ladies reached out to me to check out their November Mesoamerica unit.
The Learn & Live Letter was created by two homeschool moms who wanted to bring the joy of play-based learning to their children. They created their own homeschools around the philosophy of interested-led and hands-on learning. Cynthia and Justine enlisted the help of several well-known highly qualified contributors in the education and homeschool community to help create monthly themed 4-week play-based learning units. Each unit covers science, history, geography, art, music, math, reading, and writing. The Learn & Live Letter also embraces the Charlotte Mason approach, you won’t find worksheets or busy work in these monthly themed units. If you are wondering about the diversity of The Learn & Live Letter team you will not be disappointed.
Because learning comes naturally to your child’s development. They learn with and by the world around them—and, as parents and caretakers, all we have to do is open that door.
The Learn & Live Letter units are designed for the homeschool parent, while non-homeschool families can benefit from this wonderful program, the design is for that homeschool parent. There are 3 levels to choose from level 1 (3 to 5 ), Level 2 (5 to 7), and level 3 (7 to 12). Families can choose to do a monthly subscription or a yearly subscription. The yearly subscription would guarantee you 36 weeks of lessons. Each level is different and provides age-appropriate activities. The units come to you via email and you click the link that will take you to your levels monthly instruction pages. The company also provides you a schedule of when you will receive the next unit’s email which is always a week before the upcoming month. There is also scope and sequence you can look at which is great for pacing and lining up your lessons. The company is still growing so the 2022 lineup is still building.
November Mesoamerica Unit
Mesoamerica Unit !
Our unit to review for you is the Level 3 November Mesoamerica unit. The Mesoamerica unit took us on a journey to Mexico and South America. Each week comes with its own supply list, resources, and embedded links. Everything you need is in your weekly guide you can add to it if you like, but you are fine with just the items they list. We studied about the Mayans, Aztecs, and Olmecs. The Mesoamerica unit captured my son’s interest he was intrigued to learn about these wonderful ancient Indigenous tribes’ culture, history, and contributions to civilization. For 2 weeks he was stuck on learning about the Olmecs and I let him stay in this history as long as he liked. We created terra cotta pottery, tried to play the Mayan game Ulama which gave us all quite a workout, and we built the Temple of Kukulkan out of legos.
November Mesoamerica Unit
Each monthly 4-week unit has 5 lessons each lesson has 2 – 4 activities. What I did notice is that Lesson 1 of each week usually had 2 activities that focused on geography or history for that week. You do not have to do each activity in each lesson. We average 2-3 activities each lesson, but because we plan to do this unit again I left wiggle room for next year. While we worked on the Mesoamerica unit we discovered there were many other ancient indigenous tribes so we will look into these next year. I highly recommend you bookmark the monthly units link on your iPad or tablet. I also printed out each week. The company also provides you with a skills/activity tracker.
The Learn & Live Letter units provide gentle history if you follow me you know I teach gentle truth history in our home. The Learn & Live Letter provides the conversation starter for you and you are free to take it from there. They do use Honest History magazines in their units which are great history resource. So if you don’t have these you will need to invest in them. I found the supply list to be inexpensive and the majority of the items we already had at home. The book resources I found all of them at our local library and were inexpensive on Amazon. The Usborne Encyclopedia World History book is one of the core books but you can use this book or find a World History book that covers your unit’s topics.
November Mesoamerica Unit
The Learn & Live Letterprovides so many hands-on and play-based learning opportunities in their units we had so much fun exploring. My son was super excited about learning history and doing the activities he ask for these lessons first during our homeschool day. We finished our Mesoamerica unit feeling confident and happy about our progress. When I asked him what he thought he said this was one of the best units we have done in a long time. With him being happy and I know that everything is planned for me and he loves it we are now working on Ancient China and Medival Level 3 from The Learn & Live Letter. We purchased a year’s subscription and we are both loving it.
Ancient + Medieval China
The Learn & Live Letteris hassle-free learning we were over all the traditional history lessons. We are doing what we love following our interest and back to enjoying our homeschool day.
Ancient + Medieval China
I highly recommend The Learn & Live Letteryou will not be disappointed. It was such a sigh of relief to plan something he will both truly enjoy. Each unit is packed with much you can do and not feel overwhelmed. The Learn & Live Letterhas excellent customer service and a wondering FAQ on their website. It is always great when homeschool moms create something that really puts the kids first, Bravo Ladies! For my followers, The Learn & Live Letterhas provided my readers 10% off any year subscription, be sure to use my promo code DESHAUN10 at checkout.
Complimentary product received from Know Yourself.
I love putting together unit studies, it is just something about gathering all the materials that just makes homeschooling so much fun. My son enjoys our unit studies and he learns so much, but we all know putting together unit studies requires a lot of time and research. Science unit studies are our favorite but it requires a lot of books and external resources. This year I wanted to finally really tackle a solid unit on the human body so while I was researching over the summer I came across the Know YourselfSystems of the Body Adventure Series and that’s when then the fun began.
After browsing the Know Yourself website I realized, that I actually owned one of their Dr. Bonyfide books, but then it happened I previewed the Systems of the Body Adventure Series Book 1 Five Sense and it was a done deal I had to have the entire bundle. I purchased the digital version of the bundle and I was confident I found the answer to my human body unit with just a click of the mouse.
About Know Yourself
The company was created in 2013 by a mom with two girls, she wanted to teach her daughters about the human body and anatomy but have fun doing it. Nancy Howe and her team have created an award-winning books series and have partnered with many companies such as Timberdoodle, Rainbow Resources, and Christian Book just to name a few. If you noticed all 3 of those companies are top-tier and respected homeschool merchants so you know these books have to be quality.
Inspire children to be grounded in the awesomeness of their own self-worth and equip them to make healthy decisions about their minds and bodies. Through a deep sense of self, children are able to better relate to others and contribute to a society with more compassion, love and respect.
Know Yourself
Know Yourself is built on 3 principles as listed on their website:
Self-literacy: A journey to a better self through knowledge of the body and mind that ultimately results in happier, healthier, and less fearful SUPER-AWESOME human beings.
Self-worth: Knowing that your value on this Earth is as great as any other human being on this Earth.
Self-advocacy: Find your voice. Ask questions and speak your truth.
Representation: Acknowledge and represent the diversity of the community that we live in and build appreciation for various human intelligence and learning styles.
The company is committed to providing solid foundations while identifying the need to be inclusive and include all diverse characters so your child will see themselves as they learn.
Dr. Bonyfide Series
Now that you know a little about the company let’s talk about the first set of books f Dr. Bonyfide. There are 4 workbooks in the Dr. Bonyfide :
Bones of the Hand, Arm, and Shoulder: Book 1
Bones of the Foot, Leg, and Pelvis: Book 2
Bones of the Rib Cage and Spine: Book 3
Bones of the Head, Face, and Neck: Book 4
In each book, students will explore the human skeletal system using 3D x-ray glasses, puzzles, activities, and readings. All of the books are interactive and feature Dr. Bonyfide and his friends. The Dr. Bonyfide series provide students with real pictures and the anatomically correct names for the skeletal system and provides fun ways to help the students remember the names of the body parts. Just to give you the heads up all the friends your kids will meet in the Dr. Bonyfide series you will see them again in the Systems of the Body Adventure Series.
Systems of the Body Adventure Series
If your student loves graphic novels they are going to love the Systems of the Body Adventure Series. There are 12 workbooks in this fabulous series and your students will meet the Loops Crew. Each one of these books includes a graphic novel storyline complete with a ton of activities and takes you and your student on a worldwide adventure to learn about the body systems.
We love both series of workbooks, when the company reached out to partner I was thrilled my son was super thrilled we would receive a complete set. Know Yourself combines my son’s 2 favorite things graphic novels and science therefore he is hooked. I literally have to hide the books from him because he will read them all. The company sent us the last 4 books just in time for this review and he saw book 10 has the Loops Crew traveling to Tenochtitlan he grabbed and ran with it. So I am guessing that this is the book we are doing for this month along with our Mesoamerica unit study.
In the month of October, we decided to Adventure 2: The Skeletal System (Russia), talk about a breath of fresh air. The workbook has everything we need for a complete unit study. I just needed to check the supply list at the beginning of the book and we were ready. The great thing about the Systems of the Body Adventure Series books they are broken into 4 parts, each part tells you exactly what the student will be learning and the estimated time for each part. In all honesty, there is NO WAY you can get through an entire book in 1 month there is way too much information to cover. You want your kids to enjoy what they are learning and take their time. My recommendation is to do 2 parts a month and spend your time immersed in the geography culture of the book. The recipes included are easy to follow and require limited adult supervision. The book also includes the answer key and review section.
Dr. Bonyfide and Systems of the Body Adventure Series gives you everything you need for a human body and anatomy system unit study. The books are for children ages 8 years and up and can be done independently. I personally really like the books and I really want to be a part of the learning alongside him because I am the first to admit that I don’t know a lot of detail about the human body systems.
The books have cut back on my human unit study planning by 95% and it also included things I would have never included in my own study. You can purchase the books individually or by bundle. The Systems of the Body Adventure Series is available as a digital download and you can use them on a device. Reasonable price, great customer service, and fast free shipping. To save on your purchase be sure to include our referral code: DESHAUN .
We received the October box from Owl Crate Jr if you aren’t familiar with the Owl Crate Jr is a monthly box subscription for middle-grade readers ages 8-12 years. Each box is carefully crafted with a customized book cover sleeve just for Owl Crate Jr subscribers.
Owl Crate Jr October 2021
October’s Owl Crate Jr box theme is the Science is Magic. The book of the month is a signed copy of Amira & Hamza The War to Save the Worlds by Samira Ahmed. Inside this wonderful magical box includes hands-on activities for your reader related to the monthly theme.
On the day of a rare super blue blood moon eclipse, twelve-year-old Amira and her little brother, Hamza, can’t stop their bickering while attending a special exhibit on medieval Islamic astronomy. While stargazer Amira is wowed by the amazing gadgets, a bored Hamza wanders off, stumbling across the mesmerizing and forbidden Box of the Moon. Amira can only watch in horror as Hamza grabs the defunct box and it springs to life, setting off a series of events that could shatter their world—literally.
“The Wild Robot” inspired book accessory designed by @shaferbrown
His Dark Materials Compass Enamel Pin
The Magic School Bus lanyard
Science is Magic Monthly Magazine (inlcudes a science exiperiment)
Science is Magic monthly collectible sticker
Bookplate with letter from the author to your Owl Crate Jr Reader
Wrinkle in Time Umbrella
The monthly magazine includes an October box photo challenge, Owl Crate Jr readers can perform 6 challenges in chances they can win 1 of 6 free boxes. They can upload the pictures to their parent’s Instagram accounts and tag @owlcratejr.
Overall Thoughts
We were sent two Owl Crate Jr boxes. The company sent us the January 2021 box that theme was Inner Magic and the book of the month was Amari and the Night Brothers, which we happen to be in the midst of finishing up. The January box encourages healthy self-image-building activities.
Owl Crate Jr box subscriptions are a good way to make reading magical. The themes we received were beautifully crafted with lots of learning opportunities. I also looked over the previous month’s books and discovered they have a diverse collection of book titles each month which is gladly appreciated. However, their social media pages don’t reflect that same diversity of children and families. Owl Crate Jr’s website is inviting and has a community blog for Owl Crate Jr and Owlcrate 14+. You can compare boxes on their website to see which box best works for your reader. I did poke around on the Owl Crate Jr shop I love all the extra book goodies they have. I am going to purchase a few of their teas for our monthly tea and chat times.
One of the things I find unique about Owl Crate Jr is its attention to detail. The Owl Crate Jr boxes make reading an adventure and not just words on pages. If you have a reluctant reader aged 8-12 Owl Crate Jr box is perfect for them. You use the monthly books as read-aloud or an independent read, we happened to be reading the Amari and the Night Brothers book already when the October Owl Crate Jr and my son are completely engulfed in this book and we will be moving on to the Amira & Hamza The War to Save the Worlds book soon. My son saw the “Dragons” in next month’s Owl Crate Jr box he is begging me to get him the November box also! Of course, I said yes because I am thrilled he wants to keep reading more novels.
Owl Crate Jr boxes are $29.99 a month, the company offers several different subscriptions option. The Owl Crate Jr box is for middle-grade readers ages 8-12 years. The boxes ship between the 15th and 20th of the month. You can purchase past Owl Crate Jr boxes in the shop. I have signed me little up for a subscription after receiving these 2 boxes complimentary so be on the lookout for updates on our instagram.
Disclaimer : This is a contribution post for the Melanated Gold Review Squad all the statements are my honest review and products were purchased with my own money.
Cooking is a favorite activity in our home and anytime I can pair a unit study with a Eat2Explore box I jump at the opportunity. When the Melanated Gold Review Squad was given the opportunity to review Eat2Explore I was more than happy to contribute to the team. We have been Eat2Explore subscribers since 2019 and we really enjoy receiving these boxes. Eat2Explore is an award winning culinary box subscription for families. The boxes are sent out monthly or you can select individual boxes to purchase. Families are taken on a culinary adventure to learn about the country of interest . I love when these boxes arrive, they smell so good. The authentic smell of spices kickstart your adventure and then you dig into the box and find all these exciting cooking supplies and lessons.
I love how the company uses stickers on the outside of the box to remind you what country you are visiting that month, this makes for easy organization. Can you believe you get all those items in that one box, just add the fresh ingredients needed. Eat2Explore offers a option to reorder the spices, sauce and grains. We loved the Ethiopia box so much we defiantly took advantage of the box refill option. Having the option to order extra supplies is great if you have a large family or just don’t want the hassle of trying to find the spices yourself. We are a family of 3 and boxes can feed a family of 4. The company does offer vegetarian option boxes and the boxes are easily modified to fit your dietary restrictions.
How I Use:
We use the Eat2Explore as part of any of our geography unit studies. I look to see if we have a box to that fits our geography unit study. If we dont have a box I look for a box in the region of study. We have several of the boxes on hand but there have been a few times I needed to grab a box from the Eat2Explore website. Eat2Explore has excellent customers service and shipping time. We dont cook all three recipes in the boxes every unit study, Let him pick which one he wants and we plan the day for cooking. The recipes we love we keep them in rotation for our monthly “International Dinner Night” and I purchase a spice package from the company. The Eat2Explore boxes adds that extra twist to our units and we look forward to trying new foods and learning about the culture and foods. There have been a few boxes we have had to add some extra seasoning to it for our own taste.
In April we cooked from Singapore box and made the Soy Chicken for dinner and the Ethiopia box is serious hit in this house. My son is learning about Kenya this month so we will taking out our Kenya box picking a something to make. One of the biggest reasons why we have continued to patronize the company is their commitment to detail and diversity.
Eat2Explore boxes can be purchased in bundles or annually subscriptions, the monthly cost of boxes are $24.95 plus shipping. You cancel or pause your subscriptions at anytime, the company also has an add on binder to help you store your recipes. September box is Israel and the October box is Singapore.
Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.
We are no strangers to ARTistic Pursuits we have used and reviewed Vol 1 and Vol 2. This year when the crew was offered to review ARTistic Pursuits I decided I would love to add to our collections and review K-3 Vol. 7 Art of the Modern Age.
This year in our home school we have put a heavy concentration on art appreciation. We have studied a wide range of artist and their techniques. We haven’t yet had the opportunity to study modern art in-depth, the K-3 Vol. 7 Art of the Modern Age would be a nice way to start that introduction. K-3 Vol. 7 Art of the Modern Age is a non-consumable book (DVD/Blue Ray) or online stream for 2 years access. K-3 Vol. 7 Art of the Modern Age comes with 18 lessons of artist study that give you and the child a step-by-step guide about the artist and how to complete the artwork. I really like the ability to have my son log in on his own so he can do his lessons. The online stream is a huge plus for older students because they can choose what best interests them. The supply list is simple and we had all the supplies on hand.
My son decided to do inspired art from Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) Lesson 11 the focus was abstract art. My son loves abstract art because it allows him to be free to create. He really enjoyed the artist’s background information and enjoyed studying the picture. This lesson was great for him on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
If you are looking for Modern Art study or art curriculum for your budding artist K-3 Vol. 7 Art of the Modern Age from ARTistic Pursuits would be a great choice. I highly encourage you to also check out the other crew reviews on other levels or explore the other levels on the ARTistic Pursuits website. Please click the banner below for the Homeschool Crew reviews on on ARTistic Pursuits .
Now that we are in the full swing of our new homeschool year I realized that there is one subject area I was lacking. I have struggled with how to add art education to our homeschool but HiGASFY Art History Video Series made it possible to add this subject to my son’s course work! My son is just beginning to like to color and do more art related activities so when the Review Crew was offered the opportunity to review the HiGASFY Art History Video Series I jumped at the opportunity.
We decided to study the Post Impressionist time period, because my son has not had a lot exposure I wanted to pick a time period he was most familiar with to study. I decided he wanted to study Vincent Van Goh. We check out books from the library and studied several pieces of his art work that is included in the curriculum bundle. For this review we used both the HiGASFY Art History Video Series and the curriculum bundle.
The HiGASFY Art History Video Series is a wonderful component to this program Mrs Beth and HiGASFY take the children on a wonderful art lesson of the artist and their art work. The children become fully emerge into the artistic time period. Mrs Beth gives the students artist background and she visually goes over the artist artworks in the video. She includes history and geography lessons as well in the videos. I really appreciated this part in the video series because it made the lessons more personal. I personally don’t know a lot about art and how to present it so this series was a huge weight off my shoulders. My son really enjoyed the videos because they were fun and Mrs. Beth was friendly and he like HiGASFY
The curriculum bundle is really nice, because it is a full lesson plan completely laid out. Each plan lays out objective, suggested activities, critical thinking, vocabulary, writing, geography and science. The curriculum bundle also includes flash cards, game assessments and TEKS for those who are in the Texas area.
The HiGASFY program offers student 4 different art periods to study:
Renaissance
Baroque
Impressionist
Post Impressionist
Each time period features 3 artist from that time period such as Monet, Vincent Van Goh, Matisse and Picasso just to name a few. The target grade of 1st- 8th grade with 16 weeks of fun filled art lessons. Parents and educators can buy the DVD set or they can purchase the online option. The video series concluding the curriculum bundle is affordable and starts at $15 a month for 9 students or less.
This month the Homeschool Review Crew was given the opportunity to review ARTistic Pursuits Inc.K-3rd Grade Level, Volumes 1-8 . Our family reviewed Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary, K-3 Vol. 1 (an introduction to watercolor painting methods, color application, paper cutting and folding for beginners). Art has been an area we have struggled with in our home. Not because we don’t like doing art, more so because I struggled with tryin to to find the time to squeeze it into our busy schedule and program that didnt require a lot of previous art knowledge and supplies.
The Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary, K-3 Vol. 1 program comes with a Blu-ray/DVD for both the student and parent to watch prior to doing lessons. This worked out well for us because we could watch together during lunch time and then apply what we learned after we finished up lunch. This made it simple for me to fit in art instruction without having to set aside a specified time. There are 6 instructional lessons on the DVD and 12 easy to follow text lessons and the art supply list was short and affordable. Some lessons included in the book are featured in the accompanying instructional video to help you cover some key component. . These instructional videos are not just for the student they are for the parent as well to help aid with learning. In the Identify and Mix Colors Lesson 4 was great review for us mixing colors to create new colors and using the watercolor crayons. We had fun using different shapes to practice mixing colors.
Children are first introduced to basic watercolor crayons, the company was gracious to send us a set of watercolor crayons and paintbrush. Children will learn to use oil pastels, colored paper and watercolor crayons. The children will also learn about textures, still life paintings, landscapes, and many more art mediums. One plus is children will receive some art history study while doing the course. There are several beautiful paintings in the book and I am hoping that more diverse artist are included in ARTistic Pursuits Inc.K-3rd Grade Level, Volumes 2-8 . Art appreciation is also stressed in this curriculum children will be presented with the artist and asked questions about the paintings to help further understanding and increase art vocabulary.
The Artist Imagine Lesson 3was one of the lessons my son really enjoyed. In this lesson, we studied the painting The Birthday, 1915 by Mark Chagall. This lesson focused on the children using their imagination about a special event in their lives. My son decide to use the moment he received a very special gift from this past holiday. He paid close attention to his emotions and how he felt seeing the gift laid out on his bed when he arrived home. He and I spent some time talking about that day and how he felt. He carefully planned out the things he saw and imagine on that day. This was a great lesson for us to connect and bond.
We recently took a road trip and Lesson 7 Construction Paper: Cut was the perfect lesson for us to do. This lesson worked on his cutting skills and he was able to build a paper collage of things that he saw on the road. I really like how he decided to use foam paper for the clouds to give them more of a 3D appearance. He also wanted to show how the moon began to slowly appear in front of the sun as if it was an eclipse which he referenced back to Lesson 3 Artist Imagination and he was able to use that vocabulary when describing this art piece to me. I was really impressed withhis he reflection on a previous lesson and art terminology.
Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary, K-3 Vol. 1 is a great program if you are trying to incorporate more art appreciation in your home. The lessons are easy to follow and the instructional DVD/Blue Ray add a nice component to the program. The cost for Vol. 1 is $39.99 plus tax. K-3rd Grade Level, Volumes 1-8 from ARTistic Pursuits Inc. makes art instruction easy for families!
Until Next Time,
Mom
Be sure to check out the other Homeschool Crew members reviews by clicking the picture below as they also reviewARTistic Pursuits Inc.K-3rd Grade Level, Volumes 1-8 . You can look for ARTistic Pursuits on their social media platforms below.
Little Learner and Mom 