My daughter is a lover of art. I, on the other hand, love LOOKING at art. Drawing? Painting? Sculpting? Crafting? Totally not my thing. So, of course, God decided I need a challenge and gave me a crafting, artsy, sketching fashionista who loves nature journals and drawing in her diary and all things art. Anything art! Of course. Thanks God for stretching me outside of my comfort zone!
We do the basics of art with our homeschool community classes; however, we do not do too much formal art at home. However, in the back of my mind, I know I need to do more because my oldest is begging for it, whether she is saying anything out loud or not.
I have been looking at various art curriculum for, well, about every year since we started homeschooling and continue to not purchase one because I can’t decide. So this year, I bit the bullet and purchase Home Art Studio 5th grade to give it a try. This is our first year using it and I am excited to say that it is great. I am VERY pleased!
Home Art Studio – What’s it all about?
Home Art Studio is a DVD home art program. Each DVD contains enough art lessons to keep you busy for the school year given all through DVDs. Each lesson is fun, colorful, and short. Each lesson has an introduction, shows the instructor going through and explaining the project and at the end you see the completed project. Even if the project is a long project, the finished project is shown after a “time-lapse” in the video.
The teacher, Ms. Volin, is an artist and makes the classes engaging even though they are through DVD viewing. She seems to address unanswered questions throughout and has a pleasing voice that makes the lessons easy to listen to and follow. Her instructions are clear and she demonstrates most everything, making it easy for you to pause the video and follow along through the project.
Each year has a “theme” to go along with the art work. The 5th grade theme is “A Journey Under the Sea” so all of the projects have something to do with water. My daughter thought this was pretty cool.
If you are like me, you have all kinds of “reasons” you haven’t included art in your homeschool. So, let me dispel some of them for you.
Lighthouse – lesson 1
But I Can’t Draw a Circle?
Well, that’s not true. I took a studio art class in high school and after an ENTIRE semester of art lessons I feel confident in telling you that I CAN draw a circle. But otherwise, art is a bust for me.
I was worried with any art curriculum that it would be difficult for my students to do independently and they would have questions that I would be unable to answer. That is simply not the case. Even if you cannot draw a circle, you will be able to use Home Art Studio in your home and see your student learn and thrive in their DVD art class.
I Just Don’t Know What We Need to Do Projects.
Home Art Studio does a great job at giving you a supply list. The supply lists for each DVD is available on the DVD, along with the lessons plans. I simply went through the first 6 weeks of lesson plans and got the supplies together and had them on hand. Many of the supplies we already had, like glue and construction paper, salt and colored pencils. We even had a sketching pad. I purchased some sketching pencils, watercolors, and some brushes and we were good to go for several lessons.
If getting them all together isn’t your thing, Home Art Studio offers packages on their website that allows you purchase all the supplies you need in one box for the entire year of art class. This makes it easy to know you have everything on hand and not have to go searching at the last minute if you don’t have something.
There Is Just No Time for Art.
I have trouble fitting it all in too. But Home Art Studio makes it easy to fit in. Since the DVD lessons are brief, approximately 15 minutes or so, depending upon the project, you can fit it in whenever. And I definitely could allow my 5th grader to do it independently. As long as she knew where the supplies were, we were good. (As long as I knew where the supplies were we good as well.) But the lessons are quick and then the student can work on it whenever fits in their week.
We watched a video on a light day and then she could work on the project throughout the week or 2 we spent on the lesson. That is the nice thing about them, you have the project, the assignment and then all the time your student needs to work on it.
So, Is the Program Worth it?
I would say definitely yes. My daughter has already improved her drawing skills, considering light and angle and shading in just a few lessons. This is our first formal lessons so I’m really excited to see where it takes her.
Personally, I think these lessons are a great deal for the price. You can purchase one grade of Home Art Studio through their website for $29.99. For a year of art lessons, that’s a bargain. There is also a Holiday Arts and Crafts DVD with Ms. Volin which my daughter REALLY wants that we will have to consider.
If you want to give a lesson a try, you can sample a lesson from each grade on the website. And be sure to read about the 5th grade Home Art Studio program. You can also visit them on Facebook and Twitter and of course all the beautiful art on Pinterest.
You can teach art at home, and Home Art Studio can help!
Thanks to Tawnee for this thoughtful review of Home Art Studio. You can read more of her homeschool reviews on her blog, Adventures in Homeschooling.