Watching children grow up is always a fascinating thing. There are some things certain children will do very well, while other things leave them lost in bewilderment and frustration. Take my eldest, for example. Peanut has always enjoyed singing and organizing things. Even as a 7 year old she can be found singing around the house more times than not and organizing her books on her headboard for the umpteenth time.
That said, there has always been one area she seemed to be challenged in no matter what–art. While most kids by about the age of 5 or 6 really enjoy coloring, Peanut despised it. When asked to color something during AWANA or Sunday School I could always pick out which craft project was my daughters; it was always the messiest one. Her friends would often make the comment, “Oh that’s your daughter’s. She just scribbled.” Once a teacher even made the comment, “Don’t worry. Not everyone can be an artist.”
At first I was troubled by her artistic abilities, or lack thereof, until I began to realize something. It wasn’t that she didn’t have an artistic ability. It was that she didn’t want to limit herself with lines on a paper. She wanted to make her own lines. She wanted to be the artist all on her own and not have some pre-created drawing made for her to fill in the missing pieces. She thought that coloring between the lines was a waste of time and would much rather create her own works of art.
Thus, this year we began to explore different ways to provide guided art instruction in our home. The discovery of Atelier Homeschool Art in our home as been met with ecstatic results. As you can see by several of our Instagram pics, Peanut now loves art and can’t wait to do more. Atelier Homeschool Art is open enough for Peanut to explore her creativity and yet simple enough that even her 4 year old sister can enjoy it too.
The 7 Best Things About Atelier Homeschool Art
- The Atelier art projects provide a lot of room for creativity. This is probably my FAVORITE thing about Atelier Homeschool Art. The projects are NOT meant to create cookie-cutter results. They are a guide to help bring out the creativity from within each child. For example, during the first lesson, the girls were to create a turtle using all different kinds of lines. What kind of lines? That was up to the individual artist. My daughters could choose whatever lines they wanted. Thus each turtle turned out to be very unique and beautiful in it’s own way.
- The art projects use supplies we mostly have on hand, making it easy on me! During the month we have been using Atelier Homeschool Art, we have only needed some white paper, watercolor paint (which you can easily make from supplies in your kitchen), a Sharpie marker, construction paper, and glue–all things we already have in stock in our house. For those things we might not have, Atelier Homeschool Art makes it convenient with a pre-packaged art supply kit that contains approximately 80% of the supplies needed to complete the lessons. Talk about a time saver!
- We can pause the art instructor. When we first started Atelier Homeschool Art, I would hear the words, “she’s going too fast mommy. I can’t keep up.” Now instead, I hear, “Ooo, can you pause it Mom? I’m not ready to go on.” This has really helped my daughter who often times feels overwhelmed if she feels time is limited.
- We can repeat lessons. Want to make another creative monster and don’t remember how? We can watch it again!
- We can take the lessons on our time and not at a specific time each week. I think this is one of the biggest draws of online homeschool courses. It is so nice to be able to take an art class when it best fits YOUR weekly schedule instead of when it best fits an instructor’s schedule.
- The art projects are age appropriate and one level can be used with the whole family. We chose to complete Level 2 ONLINE for ages 5 to 8. It was perfect for my two girls. However, if that doesn’t happen to be the age range of your children, Atelier Art Homeschool provides affordable options that are appropriate for all members of the family. If you have several family members covering a wide age range, you could easily select one level for the entire family as projects provide for a lot of individual creativity. Even I have enjoyed creating some of the projects that were intended for 5 to 8 year olds. Note: Don’t have an internet connection or prefer a DVD copy? That is available too in the same level-by-level format.
- The art lessons not only teach about the creation of art, but the language of art. While creating beautiful works of art, students are learning about important terms such as shape and contrast, media, balance, and more. Just the other day, my daughter was looking in a magazine, and she had to point out in one of the pictures the amazing contract of color the artist used in creating the image. Where did her descriptive language come from? Her experience with Atelier Homeschool Art.
All Atelier art lessons are presented on video, and reinforced by lesson plans. Not only are the videos a rich source of creative ideas and inspiration, it also clarifies the objectives, materials, techniques and procedures of each lesson. Abundant instructional coverage, as well as that of students in a virtual art class performing the lesson and displaying their finished artwork, consistently produces exceptional student results and learning, regardless of the art background of the parent-teacher.
Us and Art Now
So how is Peanut doing at art now? Well, I am joyous to say that whoever said that not everyone can be an artist is wrong. With a little help we can all be artists, if we only give it a try. For Peanut, Atelier Homeschool Art was the opportunity that she needed to become an artist in her own right. For her, it was what made the impossible, possible.
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