How to use the chalk pastel lessons from You ARE An Artist with multiple ages for multiple homeschool subjects for a rich homeschool experience!
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For many years, I saw art as an “extra” in our homeschool – one that rarely graced our homeschool schedule because it was either too difficult to pull off or offered no real enrichment to our already packed homeschool schedule. Occasionally, I would run across an art lesson online that seemed like a good idea, but often I didn’t have the supplies or it was too young or too old for most of my kids.
Now, it’s important to note here that I do not like separating out my children by age groups. I prefer to have them do a lot of subjects together, save math and science, and early learning lessons like phonics. It is too time and energy consuming to have one group do an art lesson that is geared toward their level and then try to find something comparable for the other age groups. I’m all for pursuing passions, but those types of age and ability-grade projects need to be done after school hours.
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As a large family homeschool, I need lessons to span the ages. So, if I’m even going to have art lessons in my homeschool, they have to work for multiple ages.
The other thing I prefer as a large family homeschool are lessons that integrate with each other. We use history as the spine of our homeschool, so geography lessons, literature selections, music, and art all integrate with these history lessons.
Even when we do Holiday Homeschool, I want all of the lessons to work together if possible.
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In my opinion, information becomes knowledge when it is solidified through many different methods and avenues. And this is exactly why I began to reconsider art as a part of our homeschooling experience.
I wanted to add a kinesthetic element to our lessons – one that would enrich and solidify what my children were learning. But, how could I do this when our homeschool is based on history and very few programs have any sort of historical context?
Add to that the fact that I was also looking for a program I could use with all of my kids – ages PreK through High School – and you have a pretty tall order any art program!
That’s why I am so excited about chalk pastels and Nana
from You ARE An Artist!
I believe the first time we “met” Nana was during a free online Christmas chalk pastel event.
By the way…Nana hosts a lot of free events! Join their Facebook Group to keep apprised of these events.
My children were immediately drawn (no pun intended) to Nana’s southern charm and kind and encouraging voice. She told them, “You ARE an artist!” and they believed her!
We were hooked on Nana’s way of teaching, but would the lessons at You ARE an Artist meet my needs as a large family homeschool mom?
The answer?
A resounding, “YES!”
First of all, Nana’s own grandchildren are homeschooled using a history-based curriculum, plus, there are five of them, so she knows what running a large family homeschool looks like.
Secondly, the lessons at You ARE an Artist cover a wide variety of topics and are perfect for multiple ages because they are simple enough for my kindergartner to do and complex enough with extra embellishments that my 16 year old stays engaged.
I often share my children’s chalk art in our weekly Large Family Homeschool Life posts. You can see all of them HERE >>
And finally, all you need are chalk pastels – which are very forgiving – and paper. That’s it! No huge investment in art supplies!
When you look at the You ARE An Artist website, you will see several different lesson bundles that directly correlate to your homeschool lessons no matter what you are teaching!
For instance, if you are teaching medieval history this year, you can buy the Medieval History Art Course.
Or maybe you are studying the solar system in science and you want to add in an art component. Buy the Art in Space Course!
Another fun option are the Holiday lessons! These are perfect for those Holiday Homeschooling lessons I mentioned earlier!
However, I quickly realized I wanted ALL of the chalk lessons at my disposal! I wanted to do a Mona Lisa lesson to go with our Renaissance art, and I wanted to skip over to a Presidents lesson when we studied American history. I wanted to do a Fall chalk art lessons as soon as the weather turned cooler and the leaves began to change, and I wanted to supplement our Morning Time lessons with chalk art hymn studies.
That’s why I decided on a You ARE an Artist Clubhouse Membership!
I had already made up my mind when I became aware of the many other added benefits of a Clubhouse Membership such as:
- All access to more than 700 art lessons for the entire family for one low price!
- Master Classes and member events!
- Member-exclusive bonuses!
- A monthly art calendar filled with lessons!
- Summer Art Camp and other special events!
Basically, I had access to art lessons for nearly every homeschool subject, all taught by someone my children loved learning from!
But that’s not all!
I benefitted from Nana’s chalk art lessons as well!
You see, I few years ago, when I was in a dark place as a wife and mother, I began to look for ways to refresh my weary soul. One day, as I sat my kids in front of my computer for a lesson from Nana, I felt this niggling sense that *I* should join them.
I was shocked by what began to take shape on my piece of paper as I followed Nana’s instructions:
I was an artist too! I was trying something new and I was creating something beautiful!
That was the day I began recommending You ARE An Artist to every homeschool mom I met! Not only did I have ready-made art lessons for everyone of my children that corresponded with every homeschool subject and holiday, but I also had ready-made lessons for myself! I had a way to cultivate my own artistic side and soothe my aching soul with beautiful projects that didn’t require a ton of time and an art studio!
I was becoming a homeschool mom who was doing for myself what I wanted for my children as well.
“If mothers could learn to do for themselves, what they do for their children . . . we would have happier households.”
Charlotte Mason
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Take a look at some of the art projects my kids have done over the years. Keep in mind these are from children ages 4-18.
I am a huge You ARE An Artist Clubhouse fan! But even if you don’t buy the full membership, I would still highly recommend you purchase one of the collections that will best fit your homeschool this year and not only have your kids do the lessons, but you also take some time to do the lessons with them on occasion! You will not regret it!
>> SHOP YOU ARE AN ARTIST HERE <<
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