ARTK12 American Art History Volume 1 Review

Remember my review on Kristin J Draeger's Draw The USA?  Did  you know that Kristin J Draeger has a whole American Art History Curriculum?  The ARTK12 art history curriculum is truly art history disguised as fun!  There are three parts to each volume:  American Art History, American Art Bingo and Drawing American Art.  And there are three separate volumes.  Each volume set is equivalent to one semester.  I had the privilege to review the complete Volume 1 of this curriculum.  It is designed to be used once a week for 16 weeks.  Each week's lesson is approximately 2 hours of teaching and there is very little prep.  Not only will it work well at home but this program would also be a great fit for a homeschool coop class as well.  You could adapt it as needed to suit your time allotment.  Just a thought.

It's recommended that each week you read the chapter in American Art History, play the bingo game, and draw the piece of art.  That's it!  Or you can play the bingo game, read the chapter, and draw the piece of art - that's what we did.  This program is designed for grades 3rd-8th.  I did the majority of this curriculum with A (14), B (12), C (11), and D (8); however, E (6) and F (4) participated in some and loved it!  E and F joined in on some of the bingo games.  E was also able to complete several pieces of art (although they were more challenging for her).  I just printed out extra templates and had them available for her and let her complete as many as she wanted - one of the beauties of homeschooling a large family.

American Art Bingo Volume 1

I love that this curriculum is put together for you.  There is very little prep.  I'm so picky about taking care of my books and curriculum I wanted to preserve it as best as possible.  So, I took apart my American Art Bingo book so that I could laminate the bingo cards and pieces of art for the bingo game.  This way, we can play it over and over again with little wear.  You can also use the cards as is or put them in slip covers.

 Here you can see a view of inside the book.

 And here are our laminated bingo cards!

There are 10 double sided bingo cards so there are 20 total varieties but only 10 can be used at one time.  And there are 32 image cards, these are the paintings and artifacts that you will be teaching your children about using this curriculum.  Every week your children will hear the information about the cards and by the end of the semester they will be able to identify the title and creator of the 32 works of art.  This review every week is invaluable.  I love that my kids have fun while inadvertently memorizing each piece.  You will need to find something to use as bingo markers: pennies, rocks, goldfish, etc.

Playing bingo!

 Here are C and D playing bingo.  We used M&Ms this time.

B with a bingo.

Here is the 1st image in the set.

And here is the last image in this set, image 32.

American Art History

Each week after we played the bingo game, we read a chapter in the American Art History book.  This book is arranged chronologically into 16 chapters and introduces 2 pieces of art each week.  This volume contains prehistoric art, mound builder art, John White, Benjamin West, and Gilbert Stuart just to name a few.  We chose to read the chapters aloud as a family but they can be read individually as well.  You can also have your students take turns reading the articles to each other.  One of the highlights of this curriculum is that it makes your students think - they need to be able to distinguish between reality and facts within the articles and what was added for comic effect.

An example of inside the book

 the next page

Every chapter has forgery games at the end.  Students compare the real work of art to the forgery on the opposite page and try to spot the ten noticeable differences.  You can hold a race and see who can find all ten differences first.  This is a great way for students to develop an eye for detail as the spend time comparing the two images.  There is an answer key in the back of the book.

Example forgery game - Find the ten differences between the original and the forgery

Answer key so you can check to see if you found all ten differences.

 Drawing American Art

After we played the bingo game and read the weekly chapter we drew the piece of art in the Drawing American Art book.  Volume 1 contains instructions and templates for 16 pieces of art.  The purpose of the template for each piece is to give every student a good start on drawing the piece.  It has good reference points for sizing and gives the students a better chance of successfully completing each piece of art.  You can photocopy the templates contained in the back of the book or you can download them from the ARTK12 website.  Only the book will have the lessons and instructions.  I really love the step-by-step instructions.  They contain drawings for each step highlighting each addition in red allowing students to see each pieces of art in minute detail.  This makes it so easy to teach and for the students to accomplish each task eventually leading to a finished piece of art!

Printed templates on cardstock

I printed the templates on white cardstock to give the kids a more durable surface to work with.  Each week your students will need the appropriate template, pencil with eraser, ultra-fine black marker, and colored pencils (you could use markers or crayons if desired).

A, B, and C with templates for drawing Prehistoric Art

Prehistoric Art Piece

Prehistoric Art Template (you can see reference points on both sides)

 Working through instructions


After pencil drawing is complete you trace the drawing in black marker.


B's work after using black marker

 Final step is coloring your work of art.

 A, B, and C's finished works of Prehistoric Art

Mound Builder Piece

Here is an example of one of the direction pages.


Working through instructions

 B's finished piece


 E's finished work (She did everything except the outlining in black marker)

 D's finished Mound Builder Art

Another lesson

 Working on Desert Southwest Art

 A's finished work

 The Art of Paul Revere

The older four kids finished works.

I'm not going to show every weekly drawing but I wanted to show several so you get a better idea of what is included.  The kids loved making their drawings and I think this is truly a highlight of this curriculum.  If you can't tell by now my family is thoroughly enjoying this curriculum and I would highly recommend it.  If you are still planning your homeschooling year or need to add an art or history supplement please consider this one.  The planning is already laid out for you and I have a feeling you will enjoy it as well.

Disclosure:  Thanks so much to ArtK12 for selecting me to review this curriculum for free in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia Product Review

Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia

I have a fun Timberdoodle product to share with you today, Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia!  This Dot-to-Dot book, done by award winning dot-to-dot artist David Kalvitis, was created to honor the centennial of Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a mile long cultural boulevard in Philadelphia.  This book includes 23 challenging dot-to-dot puzzles of museums, public art, architecture, fountains and various attractions in the Parkway Museums District.  There are one page puzzles and two page puzzles included ranging in size from 156 to almost 1700 connectable dots.  There is a puzzle key located in the back of the book that identifies which Parkway attraction is being featured.  Note however that pictures of solved puzzles are not included in this key.  This book is recommended for ages 8-108!

Prepping for our homeschool year

I have been working on preparing for our upcoming school year and this has been such a fun book to have to relax, destress and take a break.  With all of my medical stuff that crept up this summer I am finding that I need to have more down time than I did previously.  This book was fun and relaxing for me and it was rewarding to see my completed puzzles.

Our Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia book

I used a black, fine tipped pen and ruler on occasion

This is the first puzzle in the book and the first one I completed myself.  I used a ruler for every line in this puzzle.  I like the way it turned out but I didn't like the way that some of my ruler lines smeared (not much but enough to make me prefer freehand).

Here are the directions for the above puzzle.  Every puzzle except one in this book has the above directions with a different end * number.

Can you guess what this dot-to-dot will be?

I still didn't know here.

It was here that I had a pretty good guess.

If you guessed The Thinker you were right.

This was one of my favorite dot-to-dots so far.  Unlike my first, I did not use a ruler at all for this one.  It was so relaxing to sit on my back porch and complete this puzzle.  I had fun guessing what I thought it might be and then I saw The Thinker emerge before my eyes.  The Thinker by Auguste Rodin can be found at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia.

Remember when I said that one puzzle had different directions?  That would be this puzzle for The Thinker.

Completed puzzle of Fairmount Water Works

(Special note: this puzzle said it ended with *797 but I ended with *793)
Update: Thanks so much to the commenter who told me where the remaining dots are located - to the very right of the page, they are part of the roof line of the building.  I now see them!

I don't want to give away all the featured attractions in this book but I did want to show you what a two page completed puzzle looks like.  Even though this puzzle spanned two pages I found that I really enjoy freehand more than using a ruler (no smears).  I used a ruler for one line and then decided to just do my best and have fun.  So please know that you may have a preference to use a ruler but you don't have to have one.  Also I chose to use a fine tipped, black pen but you may prefer pencil (in which you can erase).  Just have fun!

This is such a fun and inexpensive book.  It's a great add on if you are studying the United States, planning a trip to Philadelphia, or just want something to help you relax and destress from the busyness of life.  I am planning on having A and B complete a few of these puzzles throughout the year as a fun component of their homeschool curriculum.  I would highly recommend it.  Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia can be purchased individually from Timberdoodle and is also part of their 11th Grade Curriculum Kit.

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  Timberdoodle sent my family Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia for free in exchange for our honest review.  All opinions are my own.

G's 2nd Birthday

G with his party balloons

Someone turned 2 last Friday, Baby G!  We had his birthday party on Saturday at Chick-fil-A and it was so much fun.  Chick-fil-A reserved tables for us, put out party hats and decorations and helped G have a fabulous birthday.  If you are looking for an inexpensive, easy way to have a birthday party I would highly recommend them.  Enjoy the photos!

 G eating his dinner

The Thinker - isn't his shirt adorable?  I ordered it online.

Cow cake of course!

A visit with the birthday cow.

 It happened to be National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day so we ordered a yummy cookie tray for all our guests.

We love you G!  I cannot wait to see all the ways that you grow this next year.

Dog Days Movie Release

Stevie

Do you have a dog?  We adopted our dog, Stevie, 4 years ago.  He is a 50#, Shepherd mix and he loves food!  He is great with kids and people but he is terrible around "people food."  Despite the challenge of keeping our groceries away from him, I love his zeal for life and the happiness he brings our family.  He is an amazing dog and loves being a part of anything and everything we are doing.  I love that Stevie helps teach my kids how to treat animals with kindness and compassion.

A, B, D, E, and F with Stevie

I wanted to share with you a bit about the upcoming movie Dog Days, which releases in theaters in just a few days, August 8th.  Dog Days is a hilarious and heartfelt ensemble comedy that follows the lives of multiple dog owners and their beloved fluffy pals.  When these human and canine's paths start to intertwine, their lives begin changing in ways they never expected.  This is a sweet film about the joy our furry friends bring into our lives and what they can teach us about treating people with kindness and compassion.  I look forward to seeing it!

Check out the trailer for Dog Days below.



Disclosure:  Thanks so much to Grace Hill Media for selecting me to participate in this campaign.  By sharing this information with you I will receive a gift card to spoil our Stevie dog!  All opinions are my own.