Homeschool Art Curriculum

A homeschool art curriculum sounds like such a good idea. I’m not creative, nor can I draw, so this is even more appealing to me. My views of art were challenged when I recently attended an art seminar presented by a local art therapist.  She works with all kinds of people from children up through senior citizens.  This day she was talking to homeschool moms.

One of the things she shared with us was that we are born 100% creative and that we are taught how to NOT be creative.  When we color in the lines and are told how to draw or paint something, that is really hampering our creativity.

She encouraged us to provide materials for creativity like Wiki Sticks, sand, modeling clay, pencils, different kinds of paints, and whatever else we could think of.  I had never seen these tubes of watercolors that you just squeeze out and add water.  The colors are much more vibrant. Hence no homeschool art curriculum was mentioned.

We need to make sure that we are less product oriented and more process oriented.  Don’t worry if you child is trying to paint on sand.  He will learn that it’s much easier to paint on paper.  Let him experiment (within reason, of course).  There is no right or wrong way to be creative. When we make mistakes or experiment it helps us think for ourselves.  Encourage your children when they make a mistake.  Focus on what they learned and not the mistake.  “Now you know that it’s easier to paint on paper than on sand.”

She then gave each of us a sheet of paper and supplies and told us to draw what creativity means to us.  This certainly caught me off guard.  I thought to myself, “My husband and children are the creative ones in our family. I’m not creative!”  I had to overcome this hurdle and start drawing.  It was very freeing to just draw what creativity means to me using the supplies that she gave us.  I actually enjoyed the whole process by the time I was done with my masterpiece.

After we were done drawing, she encouraged us to talk about our projects.  We told about what each part meant and why we drew what we did.  She said this step of talking about our projects is sometimes even more important than doing the art because it helps us organize our thoughts.

In conclusion she encouraged us to give our children a theme for their projects and then let them go with the supplies we have on hand.  Creativity can also be seen in other areas besides drawing and painting.  You can be creative with cooking, dance, theater, computers and much more. I had never thought about the fact that when we are cooking in the kitchen, we are actually being creative.

I guess you can predict that our teacher did not recommend a homeschool art curriculum. I was a little disappointed, but then I felt quite liberated that I now have the skills to inspire my children in their creativity.

Maybe in the next post I’ll share how I have used these concepts in other areas of our studies.