If there's one thing my family loves to do, it's creating art. All you have to do is say the words "draw" or "color" or "paint" or "craft" and my kiddos come alive! However, I have never purchased any art curriculum before. I have always found individual projects for us to do. So when the opportunity came for us to review Artistic Pursuits, I was very curious about it.
We were excited to receive Book One for grades K-3 (I love multi-grade level books!). To get started we did need to purchase a few art supplies that we didn't already have, such as Ebony pencils, watercolor crayons, #8 watercolor brush and watercolor paper pads. I probably spent about $20 on these supplies after using coupons at Hobby Lobby. I didn't mind the purchases though since we really do enjoy learning about art and doing art projects. I know these things will be well-used.
This book is divided into three main sections: *What Artists Do*, *What Artists See* and *Where We Find Art*.
The first section, *What Artists Do*, discusses the many ways that artists create art: composing, imagining, looking, communicating, etc. It encourages your students to use these techniques to create their own art. I love that it teaches them to be observant of their surroundings, even the rooms of their own home. Throughout this section--and the entire book--are printed examples of all types of artists' work: paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography and more.
The last section shows your student many different places *Where We Find Art*: caves, pyramids, pots, churches, castles and many other places. Lots of art history is taught in this section as your students learn about many ancient art techniques and also tries re-creating them.
We are really enjoying this book. It brings more structure to our art lessons and give me a great guide to go by. I was always skeptical about purchasing an art curriculum because the ones I had previously looked at always seemed rather dull and flat in their approach. Not so with Artistic Pursuits! There is nothing dull about this book--my kiddos can attest to that. We are off to a wonderful start with this book and I know we'll enjoy using it throughout our school year.
If you are lacking in area of art in your homeschool, I would encourage you to look at Artistic Pursuits to see what they offer. They have books that are for preschool ages all the way to 12th grade. All of their books are $42.95 and can be ordered right through their website.
Disclaimer: I received this book through The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew and Artistic Pursuits in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
Head over to the Crew Blog to see what other homeschool parents had to say about this curriculum.
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