Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.
I love doing art with my kids – but I’m definitely not an art teacher. My kids really enjoy art, too – especially My Little Man. Knowing about art, artists, and movements is something he definitely likes, but we all need help learning about techniques and such. That’s why I was so excited for the opportunity to review the Art History Program from Creating a Masterpiece.
We all had fun looking over the project list and choosing which one we wanted to do first. My Little Man was especially happy to see several projects involving fish! He chose to do a charcoal drawing of Angling for Trout.
For this one, we gathered the needed supplies and set up shop at our kitchen table. I put my computer on the opposite side, and My Little Man and each worked across from it.
Each of these lessons are taught via video. The first video is a supply-gathering one, and the actual instruction begins after that. All of the videos in this particular lesson are only a few minutes long.
I was a bit concerned that the number of videos meant the project would be complex and difficult – there were seven! – but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, the work was extremely doable. I like how the instructor broke down the lesson into small pieces, and then those small pieces were made possible by comparing the required work to something that everyone could understand.
For example, when creating the fish’s fins, she likened them to triangles. Actually, for this piece she did this often: pointed out the shape of the work that needed to be done, and then demonstrated it with her materials.
I found it very helpful to watch her movements and then to make my own marks. Most of the time, because they were so simple, we could keep up in real time with the video, though a few times I paused it to make sure that we wouldn’t miss anything.
My Little Man is very patient, and because the steps were simple, we did the entire project in a single session. We watched one video right after another until we had finished the whole thing.
This was a really fun project to do, and it made for a great introductory piece for My Little Man, who had never used charcoal before. His trout looks really great, too, doesn’t it?
I haven’t used charcoal since high school, and even then, it wasn’t something I used often. It was really fun to break out these materials and be creative. I don’t get to do that nearly as often as I’d like, but it needs to happen more. This resource definitely makes it possible.
My Big Helper went in a new direction. She wanted to try making the peacock feathers with ink. Again, this was a very new technique for her, but she spread out all of the materials on the kitchen table and worked through the videos one step at a time. There were six videos in this series, but just like the trout, the steps were very simple and easy to follow. My Big Helper loved the process and her finished project so much that she’s started to use this same technique to make other, simple drawings of her creation.
We’ve had a tough summer – with a relative’s long hospital stay and subsequent death taking over several weeks and the aftermath lingering – we haven’t been able to do nearly as much with this curriculum as we’d like. My kids liked these resources so much, though, that they’ve asked to do more of them even while on an upcoming vacation with their grandparents. They’re checking out projects together and choosing which art supplies to pack. It’s fun to see them so excited about something that they can do together, and I love that it can be so easy for all of them to do learn something new and make memories together.
Moving forward, we’re looking forward to calmly learning more art and techniques with Creating a Masterpiece. I can’t wait to do this with the kids, too! It’s such a great way to blend learning and fun.
Don’t take my word for it, though. Click here to read other reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew.
