I want to add an art curriculum into our homeschool days. We love history, and would like to find something fairly simple (beginner) that would go along with our history curriculum. 2nd grader will be studying, "...from the founding of Jamestown through the War for Independence - and includes colonial farming, shopkeeping, and clothing." So I'm looking for something from that era, and also something for 4th graders who will be studying "...from late 1700s to early 1900s - immigration, evangelists and missionaries, inventions, the Industrial Revolution, and economics as well as the Boer War and Boxer Rebellion."
Thanks in advance for any suggestions that might work for us!!
ASD & DYS Mum2008-05-28T07:26:23Z
Favorite Answer
K12 interweaves their history and art and we love it. We've done five levels of each so far, and are 30-50% through our sixth set of courses.
Just pull up the art ones and see which correlates to your studies. It sounds like you want mostly American History, correct? If so, then Intermediate Art A&B are what you'd want. We're doing A now, and it correlates to History, using the History of US books by Joy Hakim.
K12's art is not "arts & crafts". It's *real* art, modeled after great artists. Plus, you study architecture and furniture design along with the artist bios, art history, and methods.
A Handle on the Arts is a history based art curriculum, and while it starts in the ancients, it has plenty of meaty stuff for that time period as well :)
Discovering Great Artists is a book that is organized chronologically, it gives the artist's name, country of origin, style, a brief bio, and 1-2 projects that modify, but imitate, their works.
I don't know that there would be anything directly related to the Boer Wars or the Boxer Rebellion, but finding things from that time period would be very easy. Your local librarian would also be a great help - ours is wonderful for finding art books centered around different time periods and events. (Many children's libraries hire librarians who come from different walks of life - ours employs an artist with his M.FA whose wife is a Montessori teacher, a vocal/choir teacher, a band teacher, a drama major, and a scientist who loves history. They're a wealth of info!)
Hope those two help! If you want to do something based on the geography of the places you'll be studying, Geography Matters carries a great art program. Can't remember the name at the moment, but it's very easy to find on their site. (Rainbow Resources carries all three, I believe, and probably at a discount.) :)
Learning Through History is a great magazine that includes articles pertaining to specific areas throughout history. There are side articles listing books to coincide with lessons, arts and crafts ideas, and more.
Also, many childrens' history books contain recipes and arts and crafts as well. Our library is puny and lacks many good books but even they have historical reference books with art and craft ideas.
The one we have here at home is terrific: http://www.amazon.com/American-Revolution-Kids-History-Activities/dp/1556524560/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211937088&sr=8-1
You can also check out http://fun-books.com , not just for history but other subjects as well.