ds By Google Instant Credit Cards Company Seo Art for Kids Math Curriculum Carol A Henderson Platinum Quality Author Platinum Author | 15 Articles Joined: April 14, 2012 United States Was this article helpful? 0 0 Ads by Google Exhibitions www.hktdc.com/hkfashionweek Meet 1,300+ Fashion Suppliers HK Fashion Week For Fall/Winter Educational Technology www.met.ubc.ca International Master's Program 100% Online - Apply Now Download Free Montessori MontessoriHelper.com Materials Online Now ! Print and Use Instantly Photography School www.NYFA.edu Students Get a Free DSLR Camera! Hands-On Intensive Courses. MA in Education Studies teachtesol.org/postgraduate_courses.html All modules are taught face to face by lecturers from Bangor University Universities In Australia studyadelaide.com choose your suitable degree courses The official government website! Harrow School Beijing www.HarrowBeijing.cn Close Tutoring. Rich Activities. Excellent Academic Results Harvest West www.harvestwest.edu.au Christian Leadership Training Certificate, Diploma and Degree Academic Journals in U.S. www.iiste.org Call for Papers Submit and Publish! Faster review and rapid publication High School Online www.aiuhs.org Self-paced online courses help you Finish High School your way. Whorush: 406 sites by this AdSense ID Homeschool Art Curriculum - Artistic Appreciation and Creation for Every Child

Homeschool art curriculum should instill an appreciation for artistic works in every child while giving them the opportunity to create interesting things with their own hands. Art instruction can include anything within the artistic world, from drawing and painting to sculpting and creating ceramic bowls. Since you are teaching your children at home you have no boundaries when it comes to developing an exciting and stimulating homeschool art curriculum.

Homeschool Art Appreciation

The best way to teach children to appreciate art is to let them see a diverse collection of art in a variety of forms. Take note of all art museums and galleries in your local area, plus areas that are a reasonable drive for weekend or overnight field trips. Try to find exhibits and museums that celebrate unusual forms of art by artists of different ages and from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Plan leisurely trips that will allow children to explore these art displays without feeling rushed.

You can also check your local library for books that show pictures of different art forms. If your child takes an interest in a specific type of art, you can find a book on the art form to combine reading and homeschool art curriculums. The same thing can be done with biographies of famous and modern artists.

Homeschool Art Creation

A portion of your homeschool art curriculum should center on projects that allow children to try their own hand at different art forms. What art forms you include and how they are approached depends on the interests of your children and your financial resources. Here are some ideas to get your creative ideas flowing:

    Check drawing or painting instruction books out of the library so children can learn to draw and/or paint things they find interesting. Invest in a good drawing pad so they have space to practice. Display their drawings in a home gallery and invite friends and family members over once a month, just like a real gallery.

    Sign your child up for lessons in art forms that are not easily practiced at home. For instance, pottery or ceramics lessons may be offered through community organizations.

    Take your child to a local business offering pottery services. You can pick out a piece of pottery already created and then allow your child to paoint it. Classes may be offered from these businesses as well.

    Sign up for homeschool art curriculum programs, such as Artistic Pursuits. You can purchase comprehensive curriculum packages that include a variety of interesting art projects that can be completed at home. Some programs focus only on projects, but Artistic Pursuits focuses on art appreciation as well.

    Search for art project ideas online. For instance, you will find tons of ideas if you visit Pinterest.com.

Anything that allows your child to try their hand at an artistic form can qualify as homeschool art curriculum. Make sure you are realistic about your child's ability. You may need to complete some steps of a project for your child, and smaller children will need to be supervised when working with scissors, glue, and other art tools.

Diversity vs. Excellence

Many homeschool children will take a serious interest in one form of art before they are out of high school. If this happens with your child, make sure to balance the time they spend exploring that art form and the time they spend exploring other forms of art. You want your budding artist to practice their art and develop their skills, but you also want them to appreciate other forms of art.

You may find ways to combine homeschool art instruction with other curriculums, such as math and history. If your child loves art, make sure to plan lessons to teach other subjects through the guise of art. For instance, studying the art in one period of history may help a child understand other elements at play during that historical time.

Great Gift Ideas for Homeschool Parents

Homeschooling is a lot of work, as anyone who's done it for a while will tell you. It seems like we forget that we need to invest in ourselves as teachers, just like the teachers down the street at the public schools do when they take teacher-in-service or continued education days. In the same way, homeschool parents need to invest in their own ongoing education; we need refreshment, tools and resources to do our job, and sometimes renewed inspiration. There are many great 'helps' available for homeschooling parents today, and some of them could even find their way onto your Christmas list! If your family or friends are asking you for some gift ideas, here are a few I suggest you put on your list!

Some gifts for home educators will actually help us to be more efficient, and give us more time for homeschool tasks. "Managers of Their Homes" is a book that will help you with organization skills. It will help you schedule your day, help your children know what time to do what subjects, and help you figure out how you fit in your little ones and handle the toddlers.

This book is one of the best things that you can give to another homeschooling parent, too. A weekend away from homeschooling will help that parent regroup, take a deep breath, and realize it's not as horrible as it seems. If they read this book, they will figure out why they're overwhelmed, and learn strategies for not being overwhelmed in the future.

Another book I recommend is "The Sidetracked Home Executives," which will help you with household chores. Often it's not so much the homeschooling that's hard; it's the home that's hard. This book can really help you with that.

Another type of gift that will help you cope is gifts that help with cooking. Freezer cooking is one kind I have had great success with. If you just cook on the weekend, and enjoy those meals throughout the week, or cook two days out of the month to make freezer meals and eat those meals during the rest of the month, you will save a significant amount of time.

There are two books that I recommend for freezer cooking. One is the manual by 30-Day Gourmet and the other is their seasonal cookbook, "Holiday Freezer Cooking" from 30-Day Gourmet. "30-Day Gourmet" is a little bit of a misnomer, because the recipes are very down to earth and standard, so they're really not very gourmet. The "Holiday Freezer Cooking" book is worth its weight in gold. I can make ahead so many things for our Christmas meal.

Crock-pot recipes are another great cooking method to save time. If you normally start your school day at 8 or 9 in the morning, fifteen minutes before you start, you put your meal in the crock-pot, and then it's done at 5 o'clock. Two good starting cookbooks are "Fix It and Forget It" and "The Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes."

Remember to invest in yourself this season. You need time to continue learning about homeschooling, especially high school.

How to Prepare Your Child to Read in 5 Easy Steps

1. Read to your child early and often. When they are at the stage of being able to understand what you're doing, follow along with your finger as you're reading each word. This will help them realize that you are reading left to right, sounding out words, and what the words look like. Having many books in your home and reading to your child every day will foster a love of stories and reading that will last a lifetime. Teaching your child to read, is one thing. Teaching your child to love to read is another. The process of learning to read should to be a natural progression of push and retreat, as they become ready for each new stage. It needs to be a positive, playful and fun process if you want your child to ultimately enjoy reading.

2. Teach your child the alphabet song so that they begin to learn the names of the individual letters and their alphabetical order. Singing and playing is the best way to keep your child open to receiving new information. With repetition, your child will begin to memorize the alphabet which is the basis for learning how to read. Next, they need to see the shape of each letter as they sing the ABC's. This will help them associate the name of the letter with what the letter looks like, both capital and lower case.

3. Have educational alphabet toys around the house. There are many letter toys that say the name of the letter and the phonetic sound that letter makes. Playing is a no pressure learning zone. Some of the beneficial toys include; letters your child can play with in the bathtub when their attention is more focused. You can have your child find certain letters, and then say the phonetic sound it makes. Create fun games with them. There are also magnetic letter sets you can put on your refrigerator in the kitchen. Those are nice because they are constantly available. Your child interacts with the individual magnetic letters by putting them into a small magnetic letter reader which then says the name of the letter, the sound it makes, and sings a little song about it. This is a wonderful toy because it is so accessible being in the kitchen. It's nice when your child is interested in something that can hold their attention while it is teaching them at the same time. Then of course, there are many DVDs that can entertain your child as well as broaden their pre-reading education.

4. Interact with your child and the letters of the alphabet. Engage your child in alphabet games. Finding letters is like a scavenger hunt adventure. As you go about your day, make it a game to find each letter of the alphabet on anything you see, from labels, signs or billboards etc. Depending on your child's level, you can merely have one letter of the day each day, or if they are more advanced you can go systematically though the alphabet in alphabetical order. Reinforce the phonetic sound the letter makes once that letter is identified. Remember to also reinforce your child's accomplishment to encourage them to learn even more.

5. Once your child can recognize letters, identify letter names and the phonetic sound each letter makes, they have mastered the foundation for learning how to read. At this stage, when you're reading to them, progressively get them more involved. Have your child sound out a word or two as you're reading along together. Not guessing the word because they already know the story, but actually sounding out the individual letters and putting them together to make a little word. At first, use very small words like "u" "p", "up". A little at a time, they will feel the pride of accomplishing a job well done. For positive reinforcement you can reward them with stickers for their success. Children love learning new things, and even tiny achievements help build their self-esteem.