Artistic Pursuits

I am so excited to tell you about the book from Artistic Pursuits that I was privileged to review! I was able to choose the level I needed and selected Grades K-3 Book One, An Introduction to the Visual Arts.

Brenda Ellis has done a fantastic job putting together this complete art curriculum! Each lesson contains an introduction that explains the concept your child is to learn, a reading selection about a work of art by one of the masters that shows the concept in practice, and a project to be completed by your child. With this curriculum, you & your child will learn about what artists do (things such as imagining and observing), what artists see (shape, form & color), and you will explore other forms of ancient art (learning that art is more than just a painting on a wall!).

I love the clean layout and beautiful, full-color illustrations in the book! It is so nice to not only read about a painting, but see it right there in print after a concept has been introduced. The instruction is so well-suited to the book's audience of kindergarten to 3rd graders. Ms. Ellis uses a conversational style of writing that is so appealing to younger children, yet her curriculum never "talks down" to them (nor does it go over their heads!).

Art is one of my passions, but I absolutely hated my art humanities class in college because it was so dull & boring. I firmly believe that the Artistic Pursuits curriculum will teach children how to love beautiful works of art as well as how to produce them on their own! Now, you can't say that of too many other books out there!

Ella was hesitant when I first brought out the Artistic Pursuits book. She normally shuns my reading of anything that sounds like a lecture, so she was pleasantly surprised when she listened to the first lesson because it didn't lecture her...it lured her in! As I've said before, she wants to be an artist when she grows up, so this book absolutely speaks to her on that level. I have tried to get her to look at paintings online before, but there is something about seeing the painting by itself on the page that draws her to it. She has really studied the pieces of art we have looked at in this book, instead of just giving them passing glances. My girl is always up for an art project, so this book hits the spot in that area, too! She loves being able to do something new and she has thoroughly enjoyed the different mediums she's been introduced to through Artistic Pursuits. We've learned that Ella especially likes watercolor pencils!

So, if you are looking for a great way to teach your child not only about various art forms, artists, and mediums, but also about techniques she can actually use, this is the art curriculum for you! The K-3 books (there are 3 in this series) are $42.95 each. The books are non-consumable, so you can use them over & over again with each child you homeschool! Artistic Pursuits has books for every grade level, so if K-3 is not what you're looking for, go over to their website to look over their extensive catalog! There are plenty of sample pages of each book on the website so you can get a closer look before you buy.

As always, please stop by the TOS Crew blog to view the other Crew member reviews, HERE!