How I Teach Fine Arts

We’re at the last day of the How I Teach series, a blog hop coordinated by iHomeschool Network. Fine arts is the hardest area for me to teach. I never really took to art, a trip to the art museum usually leaves me confused, and Care Bear seems to have followed in my footsteps. That means I need to find resources for her to at least get a taste of various art forms, to see if there’s anything that sparks her interest. Fine arts has been a hodge podge of resources for us, so I’ll share what we’ve tried so far.

Unlike the other subjects in this series, we are not aiming for an exam at the end of the year. All activities are purely for Care Bear’s enjoyment and enrichment.

Various local classes

Our state has a vibrant homeschool community, offering an amazing array of classes for kids of all ages. Here’s a list of classes we’ve tried. Hopefully there’s something similar in your area!

Wood whittling

This class coordinated by another homeschool mom was taught by a master wood carver. This was a lot of fun, and Care Bear really enjoyed it, but it happened to be when Little Miss learned to crawl, so we stopped going mid-way through the second session because she was very discontent with sitting quietly for a couple hours. Since the kids all had knives, the class required that parents stay in attendance. When it warms up and it’s easy to sit outside and whittle again, maybe she’ll pick it back up.

Drawing at the zoo

I love our local pay-as-you-can zoo! There are homeschool classes of every kind, including art classes! Care Bear took a one day class on drawing, using different mediums and subjects. They mostly used plants, making it a non-issue regarding the Islamic requirement to refrain from drawing animate objects.

Pottery

This class was offered through the community education program in our school district. Care Bear got to try making her own clay creations, the teacher fired the clay, and they got to take them home. We still have her creations, and it’s a fun memory!

Pottery painting

Okay, so this isn’t a class as much as it’s just a mother-daughter date where we went to a paint-your-own pottery place. Care Bear has also gone with my mom to do the same thing. It’s fun to see what ideas she had for making her chosen piece of pottery her own.

Photography

Care Bear has her own DSLR (funny, I don’t have one, but she does!), and I wanted to make sure she knew how to really use it to its potential. After all, if her grandma forked out that much money on it, she should have some idea how to use the thing! Fortunately, there was a photography class series at a local wildflower garden last summer, so I signed Care Bear up. This is one class I think she showed some real natural talent! We’ll be looking into more photography classes, as long as she keeps showing interest.

Co-op art class

Our homeschool co-op has a fabulous art teacher, and Care Bear took one year of her art class in the co-op. She learned about lines, shading, and working with many different mediums. It was a great experience for her to have a more formal art class, and the teacher remains one of Care Bear’s favorites.

Online crafting classes

I’ve taken a number of classes from Craftsy, including the 2012 Block of the Month (BOM) (free, plus there are 2013 and 2014 available), Shuttle Tatting, Sewing with Knits (making a t-shirt, pants, hoodie, etc), Bag Making Basics (free), Quick Strip Paper Piecing, Knitting Short Rows (free), and Modern Buttercream Cake (free).

I’ve also signed up for a few and haven’t gotten to them quiet yet, including Color Play for Quailters, Mastering Zipper Techniques (free), and Ins and Outs of Grafting (free). I’ve had Care Bear help me with some projects, including following the video tutorial for the first quilt block in the 2012 BOM to create her own quilt block from beginning to end. I was so hoping she would be in awe at her own creation and we would share a past time together, but in the end she said, “That was a lot of work! Why do people do that!” Ha ha!

Qu’ran recitation

Our main purpose with taking a Studio Arabiya class is so Care Bear will memorize more Qu’ran, but along with memorizing the words, she is perfecting and beautifying her recitation, alhamdulilah (Praise God). There has been a great difference between her recitation before and after starting this class. I am in awe of her memorization, and love to hear her recite!

You know, when I was thinking about this post ahead of time, I kept thinking, “We don’t do anything! What am I going to talk about!” Now that it’s all lined out, it seems like she’s been introduced to a good number of activities, and I feel pretty good about it! There’s definitely benefit in marking down what you do in your homeschool, even if it’s just for your own reference.

 This post is part of iHomeschool Network’s January Hopscotch. Please visit other great bloggers as they explain how they teach various subjects as well!

The rest of the series to check out!

1. How I Teach Writing to Earn College Credit {Lesson Plan Included} (January 13, 2014)
2. How I Teach Algebra to Earn College Credit (January 14, 2014)
3. How I Teach Biology to Earn College Credit (January 15, 2014)
4. How I Teach US History to Earn College Credit {Lesson Plan Included} (January 16, 2014)
5. How I Teach Fine Arts (January 17, 2014)