My kids LOVE art! So we were excited to try out a new homeschool art curriculum for us called ArtAchieve. We received the Entire Level I to work through. My daughter really enjoyed the opportunity to use this program. And I had fun doing some as well!
ArtAchieve is downloadable lessons to be used in your homeschool to teach drawing and painting to your student. Level 1 is for the beginning artist so it is geared toward basically any age 1st grade through adult.
The lessons are inspired by global art – art from around the world. In the Entire Level 1, art lessons were geared around art from Hungry, Ecuador, Nepal, Bali and Wales, to name a few. Each lesson in level 1, which is 11 complete lessons, has a warm up exercise, a complete lesson on PowerPoint and the lesson available on video as well, which allows the student (or teacher) to view the lesson in the preferred format. There is also a sample of the art to print out for viewing of a sample project.
The lessons focus on having the artist relax and focus before starting, thinking about their work, and playing calming, appropriately relaxing music while working on their art. The video lessons discuss the need for this and why playing relaxing music is important for an artist.
Each lesson provide some history of the art being studied – for instance, if drawing Haitian Geckos then there is a little history of the gecko provided as well as how Haitian artists commonly use geckos in their art work.
Each lesson discusses this history and then has you do a relaxation exercise. This is explained in the PowerPoint lessons and gone through with you in the video lessons. Rules for drawing are provided at the beginning of each lesson. For instance, Keep calm and quiet while working and to not decide you don’t like your drawing before it’s finished, to only redo if you still would like to redo it AFTER you have finished the lesson, there is no right or wrong way to draw, and do not draw for anyone but yourself. I think these lessons are really important and i’m glad they remind the student at the beginning of each lesson.
There is no such think as a mistake. (Art rules)
Then the warm up exercises are done, which correspond with what the art lesson is focusing on. For instance, if you are drawing an owl, your warm up with have to do with the drawing required for an owl. The drawing medium the artist is using for the project is used in the warm up as well. A file to print out the warm up is available within the lessons.
The video lessons state the needed materials for the lesson in the video and the PowerPoint lessons have a slide with the material needed to complete the lesson. The materials may include a pencil or permanent marker, paper, paint, etc.
The lessons are presented in a step-by-step manner. In the video, the author works through each step on the video with the student. It is suggested to pause the lesson if necessary. The PowerPoint has a slide for each step in the drawing process with tips and suggestions included on the slide. Watching the artist draw was interesting and can be helpful to a beginning artist. The PowerPoint is a nice way to review the lesson and see the step by step in a more concise manner.
Then the lessons are completed with coloring or painting, depending upon the lesson. There is art instruction built into the lessons and the PowerPoints, which is good. The student learns about different parts of drawing and art in general with things like color schemes, blending, and hues.
Overall, we liked the lessons. They were a palatable size and easy to understand. There was time for reflection on the finished project and the step by step instruction made it easy.
I liked that there were PowerPoints and video, depending upon when and where you were using the lessons. It was easy for my 11 year old to use on her own with little guidance and the supplies were not obscure. I enjoyed using the lessons as well and would likely enjoy moving up in the lessons along with my daughter. My son liked using the lessons as well. I think we would all enjoy using them together during the homeschool year.
Here are some finished projects. I thought the did a good job. What do you think?
Check out what the rest of the TOS Review Crew had to say about ArtAchieve and the various levels they received to review. Click on the banner below to read their reviews.
And be sure to get your free Lesson 1-A Drawing Simple Lines lesson here.
Visit ArtAchieve on Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Artachieve
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/artchieve @artachieve
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/artachieve/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+artachieve
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnahofland/
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