ARTistic Pursuits Review

I am not an artist. The idea of teaching art in our homeschool is intimidating, and this fear has paralyzed me from trying. I want my kids to enjoy art, but I’m not sure where to begin. And, that’s why I jumped at the opportunity to try the Art for Children series from ARTistic Pursuits. We have been testing K-3 Volume 1: Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary for our ARTistic Pursuits review, and my family absolutely loves this resource. Are you curious how this resource made art possible- and even fun- in our homeschool? Keep reading!

Artistic Pursuits Review Homeschool art curriculum for kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade homeschooling — Pin this for reference!

I received access to K-3 Volume 1: Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary from ARTistic Pursuits in exchange for my honest review, but all the opinions in this post are my own.

What is ARTistic Pursuits?

ARTistic Pursuits is a homeschool visual art curriculum. The K-3rd grade curriculum is made up of 8 volumes. Volume 1 is an introduction to key concepts and vocabulary terms about art that children need to know. Volumes 2-8 help kids learn about art from a historical perspective.

Each book focuses on artworks and techniques from a different historical time period. ARTistic Pursuits also offers homeschool art curriculum choices for kids from preschool through high school. The author of the curriculum is Brenda Ellis, who is an artist and a homeschool mom.

About the ARTistic Pursuits K-3 Curriculum

Each volume of the K-3 curriculum includes 18 lessons. The lessons are designed to be completed one per week, so two volumes of the curriculum can be completed in one school year.

The lessons themselves take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Each lesson also includes directions for an art project for kids that kids can do to help them apply what they are learning. We found the total time commitment for the lesson and the art project to be around 30 minutes, but it could be more for older kids who are adding more detail to their work.

There are 2 different formats to choose from for the lessons. For our ARTistic Pursuits review, we used the hardcover book version. I was immediately impressed with the quality of the book itself. The book also comes with a DVD and a Blu-ray disc that contains 6 videos that go along with 6 of the lessons in the book.

An online option is also available. This option includes electronic access to the videos, as well as an online version of the book.

What Supplies are Needed for ARTistic Pursuits Lessons?

Because the ARTistic Pursuits curriculum includes formal art lessons, formal art supplies are needed. These supplies will go beyond what most homeschool families have available in their homes. The book included a comprehensive materials list that made shopping easy. Here is what was needed for Volume 1:

Watercolor Crayons
Oil Pastels
Ebony Pencils
A Vinyl Eraser
Watercolor Paintbrush
Watercolor Paper
Drawing Paper
Construction Paper
Scissors
Liquid Glue and Glue Stick

Purchasing Art Supplies

My first recommendation to families considering this curriculum is to take into account the cost of art supplies. I knew that we would need to purchase some art supplies when we decided to start art lessons in our homeschool, but I was surprised by the cost of the supplies that we needed. The cost of the supplies was actually greater than the price of the curriculum! I definitely believe in investing in the supplies we need for our homeschool lessons, I was just surprised by the cost in this case.

ARTistic Pursuits does offer two options for purchasing art supplies to make this process more convenient. An art supply kit is available for purchase along with the curriculum (check out the kit for level one here). They have also created a supply list for ordering recommended supplies through Dick Blick’s website (you can see the list for Volume 1 here).

How are the Lessons Formatted?

One of my favorite things about ARTistic Pursuits was the simple format of the lessons. Each lesson starts with notes about supplies you will need to gather to complete the activity. Many of the lessons also include helpful tips for parents about what their kids will be learning in the lesson.

Some of the lessons are in a video format. For those lessons, kids watch a short instructional video and then complete a project on their own. The video shows them what they will need to do to complete the project. Many of the video lessons teach kids how to use the art supplies, or how to do specific art techniques.

These lessons were my favorite part of the curriculum. I absolutely love that my kids can learn how to do art from the example of a real artist. I really appreciated that I don’t need to try to figure out how to do it so I can demonstrate it to them!

The lessons that don’t include a video have a few pages to read together in the book before doing the project. Each of these lessons includes a photograph of a famous piece of art, and questions to discuss with your child as you study the artwork together. In this way, kids are exposed to famous artists and great works of art naturally during their study.

What Will Kids Learn from ARTistic Pursuits?

The ARTistic Pursuits curriculum is comprehensive, because kids will learn about many different aspects of visual art as they work through the lessons. These include:

Principles of Art

The book is organized around lessons that teach about art concepts. In Volume 1, children learn about line and shape, blending and mixing colors, and noticing texture and form. The curriculum also introduces kids to different kinds of art including still life, portrait, and landscape.

Art Vocabulary

I love that this curriculum includes the vocabulary of visual art, but explains terms in an age-appropriate way. After the very first lesson, my son informed me that “I need to draw lines to show the edges, mom!” The vocabulary was accessible and easy for him to understand.

Art Techniques

The first book included lessons in drawing, coloring, painting, cutting, folding, gluing, and more. The lessons included helpful tips to help make kids more proficient at each of these skills.

How to Use Art Supplies

The video lessons in particular teach kids how to use different art supplies to create artworks. The lessons teach techniques for how to use the supplies correctly, such as how to pull the paintbrush across the paper to keep the bristles together.

Art History

Each of the books covers a different time period in art history. As kids work through the curriculum, they will be exposed to a chronological history of art. Parents can consider using these books alongside a history curriculum to help their children understand the historical context in which the art is created.

Famous Artists and Artworks

Each of the text-based lessons includes a photograph of a famous artwork. As kids study, they will learn about famous artists and their works.

How to Think Like an Artist

One of the main focuses of the curriculum is encouraging children to see the world like artists do. Many of the lessons include specific ideas for kids to think about as they are observing. The book helps kids learn to be aware of their surroundings in a new way, and to think like an artist as they observe.

Creativity

Most of the project ideas in this book are very open-ended. Kids can choose to create a work of art that is inspired by something that is important or interesting to them.

These are not the typical “copy what the adult did” projects. Instead, open-ended prompts like “paint an animal” or “draw something you have seen today” leave a lot of room for kids to be creative and make something that has meaning for them, using the techniques they are learning.

Pros of ARTistic Pursuits

Here are some of my family’s favorite things that we discovered during our ARTistic Pursuits review:

1. ARTistic Pursuits is fun.

My kids loved this curriculum from the very first lesson. My son, who generally doesn’t like anything that involves drawing or writing, now begs to do an art lesson on a daily basis! The combination of the video lessons and the hands-on projects definitely kept my kids engaged.

2. The curriculum is easy to use.

ARTistic Pursuits does a great job of making this curriculum really simple. All we needed to do was open the book or turn on the video, and we were ready to learn. Everything was explained with simple, step-by-step directions. And, comprehensive supply lists made it easy to find what we needed.

3. Artistic ability is not required.

I love that in this curriculum, the videos demonstrate all the art techniques. I didn’t need to figure out how to use the art supplies or try to demonstrate the techniques. The only thing I needed to be able to do as a parent was read the book to my child, or hit play on the video. I was able to enjoy learning alongside my son.

4. ARTistic Pursuits is great for families to do together.

I picked out this curriculum for my son, who is 5, to do on his own. I was surprised that as soon as we started the first lesson, his 3-year-old sister was ready to participate too. Although she was too young to understand most of the concepts, she loved watching the video with us and coloring a picture of her own.

Although this curriculum is designed for kids in kindergarten through 3rd grade, it seems like something that older kids would enjoy as well. This wide age range is great for homeschool families with multiple kids who would like to do art lessons together!

5. Older kids can work independently.

This curriculum is designed so that older kids will be able to complete parts of the lessons on their own. Once children have started working on the activities, they should be able to complete them with minimal help from an adult.

6. The lessons are engaging.

The lessons are short and move quickly, which helps even young kids stay engaged. This curriculum is also great for hands-on and kinesthetic learners because each lesson includes a follow-up activity so kids can apply what they are learning as they create their own art projects.

7. The videos are fantastic!

In my opinion, the best part of this curriculum is definitely the video lessons. I love that my kids can learn art techniques from a trained artist! My kids enjoyed watching the videos and we all learned a lot just from watching someone else explain the techniques.

8. ARTistic Pursuits explains things at an age-appropriate level.

The explanations in this curriculum were well thought out and age-appropriate. I really appreciated the way that abstract art concepts were explained so that even my 5-year-old could understand.

9. The curriculum helps kids think like an artist.

In this curriculum, kids learn artists’ vocabulary terms. They are introduced to things they should be thinking about as they look at the world around them. Concepts like texture, shape, and composition help children to see the world like an artist would.

10. Each lesson has specific objectives.

At the end of the book, there is a list of objectives for kids to learn in each lesson. I thought this was a very helpful resource as a homeschool parent. It helped me to see what to focus on as we studied the lessons together.

The objectives were also helpful in knowing if my kids were understanding the concepts. I know that the goal of my family’s art lessons is never going to be getting my kids to copy something exactly perfectly. So, how do we know that an art lesson is successful? The objectives gave us other things to focus on as a way to tell what my kids had learned. This was really helpful in focusing on the process, rather than the product.

11. Each lesson has a project to do.

My son loved the hands-on art projects in this book. He always prefers lessons where he gets to do something, and these art lessons are no exception. Doing the projects helped him understand and remember what he was learning.

12. Kids are learning art, not just crafts.

As soon as we started using this curriculum, my kids could see that this was something different than the crafts or coloring that they like to do. They had the chance to use formal art supplies and to really think like an artist. This is not a curriculum that waters down art for younger kids!

13. Projects are open-ended.

I appreciated that the project ideas in this curriculum were open-ended and gave my kids plenty of flexibility in choosing the subject of their own art. This made my son more interested to do the projects, as he was creating something that had meaning for him. It also meant that we were going beyond copying someone else’s work and actually creating our own art.

14. The directions are easy to follow.

This curriculum includes step-by-step directions for each of the projects. The directions did a great job of explaining exactly what to do and how to do it. However, the directions were simple enough that my 5-year-old did not get overwhelmed with the steps.

Cons of ARTistic Pursuits

Our biggest struggle with our ARTistic Pursuits review was in finding the supplies that we needed. I did not realize at first that many of the supplies required are specialty art supplies that can’t be purchased locally- even at a craft store. And, I didn’t realize at first that the supplies needed to complete the projects would cost more than the price of the book.

After this struggle, I will be planning to purchase supplies online in the future to avoid the challenges I had finding them locally.

All in all, my family loved ARTistic Pursuits. This curriculum is a great fit for the way my son learns. I love the fact that he can learn about art history and techniques while creating his own open-ended projects during each lesson. And I appreciate how easy this curriculum is to use- even for a recovering non-artist like me. I am excited to say that we have found our homeschool art curriculum and will be continuing to use these resources even after our ARTistic Pursuits review period is complete!

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