Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.
My kids really love doing creative things, and My Big Helper enjoys learning new artsy skills. That’s why we were excited for the opportunity to review Beginner Level, Art Core 2, Painting with Watercolor Pencils by ARTistic Pursuits.
This course is a combination book and digital class. The book is a really nice hardcover book, about the size of a sheet of paper, with a glossy cover. It’s clearly made to last and is very sturdy.
The inside pages are also full-color with a mix of drawings for instruction and demonstration purposes and prints of art for teaching art appreciation. There are actually four types of lessons in each unit and four units in this course.
First, there are short skill-based video lessons about how to use the art materials themselves. This direct instruction gives students tips about how to improve and apply what they’ve learned.
The second type is an observation and vocabulary lesson. In these lessons, students are taught vocabulary and then asked to connect those new words to their own world.
Third, the art appreciation and art history lessons teach students about works of art and the people who created them. As we love incorporating art into our lessons and learning about new pieces, these lessons were really fun!
Finally, a summative lesson blends all of this new information into a final project for the unit. This gives students an opportunity to practice all that they’ve learned in a new way, putting it all together.
The video lessons can be accessed by a Blu-ray disc that comes inside the book, but it’s also accessible via the website. That was a great option for us, as we don’t have a Blu-ray player, and we were able to connect a laptop to our TV to watch the lessons in a larger format altogether. We much prefer that over the old days of huddling around a single computer to gain the information and are then still able to discuss what we’ve seen and learned. It was easy to follow along and to understand.
For the book lessons, we each read them individually before beginning a lesson. These are a page or two in length and very easy to read. I like the variety of information and skills taught throughout each one, but the structured format makes it easy to plan because although the format varies, it does so in a predictable pattern – which works great for Type A planners like me.
It’s important that you start with the book when you begin this course. In our excitement to get started, we first logged into the website, knowing that we needed to do that, and even though someone was hugging the book, we happily watched a video. That works at first, but then the format of the class online changes, and it becomes less clear as to what you’re to watch next – which is because not every lesson includes a video. The names and numbers of the video lessons online don’t lend themselves well to knowing when to watch which one, either – but the book makes this all very clear. Start with the book – always the best strategy – and as you move through the lessons, it names the video to be watched when those are a part of the lesson.
The art assignments are a bit repetitious; in the first unit students are tasked with creating several still lifes, and My Little Man was ready to move on to something else by the end of this one. My Big Helper, however, created a better still life each time she did so, making each piece stronger and improved over the one before it.
All in all, we really like Beginner Level, Art Core 2, Painting with Watercolor Pencils from ARTistic Pursuits. There’s variety in the lessons and enough technical information to help students improve their own work. The art appreciation and art history information also means that students can discuss art with some level of interest and understanding.
Information included in the front of the textbook shares how to make this a one-semester class, for those who need that information. This particular class is intended for students ranging from fourth grade to adults, so it could be used for high school credit if your state allows that.
I think this course is a great option for someone who wants to know more about basic art history, appreciation, vocabulary, and skill; but don’t take my word for it! Click here to read what other reviewers from the Homeschool Review Crew have to say.
Want to know more about ARTistic Pursuits? Check out this review!
What are your thoughts?