high school electives

A to Z List: Middle and High School Homeschool Electives

July 27, 2018 | Leave a Comment
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A to Z List: Middle and High School Homeschool Electives

There are so many great options for middle and high school homeschool electives for teens that it can be hard to narrow down the choices. Sometimes we need a little nudge to remember that the freedom of homeschooling opens doors for opportunities for our kids beyond the traditional elective options.

This A to Z list of middle and high school best homeschool electives should give you a headstart in helping your teen decide what he would like to pursue.

I try to think out of the box when choosing electives. Too, remember each teen has a very different personality. You know that so don’t homeschool middle and high school in fear meaning take a boring and predictable path for electives.

Although they can be, these are not the core subjects. This is the time to explore a teen’s passion no matter how odd it may seem.

There is no other time in a teen’s life that he will have freedom to explore even the mundane. I know your anxious about your teen’s next journey as he enters adulthood, but let him delve into his passions and likes here. Just like you didn’t push when they were younger, don’t do it it here either.

Also, something else I learned after my first high school teen is to start earlier. For example, by feeding one of my son’s passion for writing in the middle and high school years he has continued on with his love of writing past graduation.

High school electives can begin in middle school; it gives your child a head start in time to pursue his strengths.

Look at some of these out of the box ideas.

A

Acting
Animation
App creation/coding
Archaeology
Archery
Architecture
Aromatherapy
Art and design
Astronomy
Auto maintenance/mechanics

B

Baking
Ballet
Birding
Blogging
Book club
Budgeting
Business management

Also, don’t think you have to learn all these things on your own. Look at some these fantastic middle and high school courses to explore which are already laid out.

Look at some of these courses from learn music in our homeschool.

C

CPR
Cake decorating
Car care
Career exploration
Carpentry
Choir
Classical music
Coding
Computer building, programming
Cooking skills
Crew
Crochet
Crossfit

Also, don’t think you have to learn all these things on your own.

There are may self-paced courses that I like which can ease the stress of teaching during the teens years and make them awesome. We loved our self-pace courses for art with Atelier Art.

D

Dance
Debate
Dog training
Drama

E

Early childhood development
Electric dance music/digital music
Engineering
Entomology
Ethnic culture
Ethnobotany
Etiquette
Exploring different careers

F

Fashion design
Fencing
Fishing
Floral design
Foreign languages
Forensic science
Furniture stripping, repairing, etc.

G

Gaming development
Gardening
Geocaching
Geology
Golf
Guitar
Gymnastics

H

Herbology
Hiking
Home design/interior design
Homemaking
Homeopathic medicine
Horticulture
Human development
Hydroponics

Studying my boys love of history, I was able to sneak in literature and history while delving into the medieval time period with Beautiful Feet Books.

I

Information technology

J

Java script
Jewelry making
Journalism

K

Knitting

L

Logic

High School Elective Ideas

M

Marine biology
Mechanics
Meterology
Midwifery
Mineralogy
Music

One more place to check for free courses for a limited time especially during the summer is the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. And if you don’t see anything free, at least you’ll love the discount on the curriculum.

N

Nature studies
Naturopathy

O

Oceanography
Ornithology

P

Painting
Parkour
Philosophy
Photography
Physical education
Physical fitness
Piano
Plumbing
Psychology
Public speaking

Q

Quilting

R

Robotics

S

Sailing
Scrapbooking
Sewing
Social media influence
Survival skills
Swim team

For a love of geography, my boys loved the audio or download version of Bright Ideas Press Geography.

T

Technology
Theater
Trail and woodland management or design

U

US Politics

V

Venturing (scouts)
Video production
Videography
Violin

W

Weaving
Web design
Welding
Wildlife management
Wood burning
Wood working
Writing

For writing, your kids will love this self paced help they get at Fortuigence.

X

Xenology

Y

Yearbook
Yoga
Youth leadership

Z

Zoology

I hope this A to Z list of high school electives helps you brainstorm some options for your teen. Has your teen tried any of these high school electives yet? Are there any others you’d add to the list?

I think you’ll love these other tips for when planning middle and high school:

Hugs and love ya,

Get It Over and Done: How Do Homeschoolers Graduate Early

July 22, 2018 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When one of my sons told me he wanted to be over and done with high school, I was setback. I felt like a failure especially because we’ve homeschooled from the beginning. I wanted him to love the academic part of high school as much as my other graduate, but he had a different mindset. I know homeschoolers graduate early all the time and it’s not a surprising fact, but my kid was not having any part of accelerated academics or it seemed like it at the moment. To me, he had the get it over and done with attitude.

Looking back now after my older sons have been graduated for a few years, I have a different view of the get it over and done with mindset.

At the time a kid cops this attitude, it seems like his whole future will be ruined. I’m here to tell you that is not always so. You need to look past your initial gut reaction if it’s negative; try to remember years later when you are having coffee together as besties this will be a memory for the right reason.

Your kid’s journey can still go from mediocre to memorable, but only if you handle this stage reasonably.

Moving Past the Four-Year Homeschool High School Plan

Look at these 3 points you need to think about. Then, I have a few tips and tricks.

One/ Try to understand what your teen is thinking about regarding his future.

Don’t jump to the conclusion that get it over and done means laziness or lack of motivation. It may be right now, but your teen’s maturity level is still changing.

Too, after I had an in-depth talk with my son, I understood his reasons for wanting a simple framework so he could graduate early.

At the time, my husband had just suffered a terrible health set back and all of my kids matured significantly that year. I have mixed feelings on my kids giving up some of their carefree childhood years, but that is another thread.

All of my kids understood the fragility of life and my son was ready to navigate his future. He wasn’t content for choosing subjects each year for a four-year high school program. He wanted to plot what was absolutely essential so that he could graduate.

I needed to focus more time on letting him explore what he wanted to do for the future. Doing that partially satisfied his feeling of uneasiness.

Have you seen these two great resources, Career Exploration for Homeschool High School Students and What Color is Your Parachute for Teens?

That brings me to my next point which is you have to be ready when homeschooling high school to decide what is your bottom line.

Two/ Rise to the occasion and decide what is your bottom line for graduation requirements.

I’ll admit it. I was unprepared for my minimum requirements because for so long my son was filling all of my requirements. I want you prepared.

Here is a general rule of thumb;

A graduation certificate is generally awarded when a teen has between 18-19 credits at the minimum. I’ve also seen 16 credits as the minimum. Look here at Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School.
Then up to to 22-24 credits and higher for college readiness.

So choose a number of credits, but base it on subjects that will benefit your teen the most.

Three/ Be creative and think outside of the 4-year plan. Mix and match community college with online courses and self-guided learning.

Although I’m on board with any of my kids wanting to get a start on their career or college path, I wasn’t prepared for an alternative route other than the CLEP route I had prepared for him.

The point I’m making is to understand clearly what your teen is wanting to do. More listening than talking was hard for me. Not easy, but I did it.

My son knew the value of preparing for a career; he was just ready to get on with it now, not later.

There are many ways to fill high school graduation requirements besides the four-year plan.

Decide what courses your teen will take and remember that community college can be a great advantage for teens who want to progress. For example, your teen can take two years of basic math and take two years of math at the community college. It’s called dual enrollment. Ages vary by college. He’ll receive college credit at the same time. This option made both of my older sons feel that they had choices. Your goal of high standards and your teen’s goal of moving on can be met. You just need to be sure you and your teen understand all the options.
Although this is the son that normally prefers hands-on and interactive learning, he enjoyed using PAC (Paradigm Accelerate Curriculum) because they are a set number of booklets or worktext to complete. Instead of unrestrained exploring, my teen had a definite finish to the course. No extra books were required for reading. Do the worktext and be finished. This went a long way to making him feel that he could see a definite finish.
Also, I had to determine my goals for language arts. Reminding myself that we had spent many years with quality literature, I was happy to find the Dover Literature Guides a great fit. They promoted self-learning and independence. Questions are right there in the book for literary analysis. It was up to my teen and me to decide how many to read for literature purposes. What is a good rule of thumb for how many books a teen needs to read in each grade? Some providers choose anywhere from 15 to 20 books for the year with about 6 being used for analysis. Again, you determine based on your child’s interest how many he should read and how many should be for analysis.
Lastly, don’t forget dvd based learning and easy online courses like HippoCampus and Khan Academy to fill whatever else you may think your teen needs in order to complete his high school.

Can Homeschoolers Graduate Early?

Look at some of these insider’s tips, tricks, and things to know if your homeschooler graduates early:

Your teen may be ready to move on with his career choice, life choice, or college choice. If so, balance his high school subjects as much as possible so that you don’t close the door to any future opportunities. This means decide your bare essentials for graduating. Two years is a good start — two years of language arts, two years of science, two years of math, and etc. Most states have relaxed homeschool laws which means you determine the number of credits and prepare the transcript. If your state does not require a certain number of years or credits, then design your transcript.
There is nothing wrong with taking a gap year. Let your teen take off a year. Although gap years normally happen at the end of a senior year, your teen may be ready now to explore his future choices. When we moved to South America, unintentionally, it turned out to be a better thing for my discontented teen than I realized at the time. I knew the whole family would benefit, but I had no idea. The shift in focus allowed him a break, it put emphasis on the family, and it gave him a shift in focus he needed at the time.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think any parent is prepared for having a teen hanging around the house with no direction and too much time on his hands. Discussion needs to be had about why you’re agreeing to shorten the time. Whether it means your teen is wanting to move ahead with his career choice or college track, there needs to be a plan. If you and your husband decide to switch gears and try the direction your child is wanting to go, you need clear expectations and consequences. I knew my son was wanting to go ahead and start taking his college courses on line. With that choice he made, my son felt like he was moving faster toward his goals, but he also understood that he wasn’t graduating early to hang around the house with idle hands.
If your child wants to graduate early to be done with school because of his attitude, it’s an uphill battle, but winnable. If that is the case, I recommend that you cut back his academic load, allow him some time to pursue work. Mix in some community college classes so he is with adults and gets a taste of the real world. Try to not shut down communication, but don’t make any promises you’re not willing to keep. For example, if he doesn’t learn now that he has to finish what he started, he will take the easy way out in a lot of decisions as an adult. By easing up on his academic load, you’re giving him time to mature too. He may need time to decide the direction he wants to go and hopefully you’re guiding him to what you want for him too.

Don’t let something that could potentially break the peace you have with your teen wreck your household.

Teens still very much still try to push the bounds or limits.

If you’re firm on what your absolute minimum is most teens given some time will come around to seeing things from a reasonable standpoint.

If your teen sees that you’re trying and you’ve said you want the best for him, you need to be willing to let him start making decisions for what is best for him.

And remember this, which was the hardest thing for me at the time — as long as you maintain a close relationship with your teen and show him your positive attitude toward learning, he can return to whatever path you’ve laid out for him.

Now that my son is close to finishing college at his pace, on his own terms, and I add giving a hundred percent and advancing with excellent grades, anything he told me in his teen years pales into comparison.

It wasn’t the end, it was just the beginning of him taking control.

Also, I have many other tips to share with you. Don’t get overwhelmed, you’ve got this:

Hugs and love ya,

Homeschooling High School: Curriculum, Credits, and Courses

November 12, 2017 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

By the time you reach the high school years, you have some general ideas of how to plan them. Today, in sharing homeschooling high school, I’m giving you a few detailed pointers for curriculum, credits, and courses to steer you in the right direction.

3 POINTERS: HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM AND COURSES

First, look at 3 things I wished I would’ve known before I started.

One/ In the beginning, it’s not necessary to plan all four years.

It’s just not necessary because a lot will change. Your teen will mature and may change the direction of his education or career as he approaches adulthood. Give him some wiggle room.

Have a plan so you can give your teen goals, but analyze each year. Having a framework of courses is much better.

I appreciated reading How to Homeschool 9th and 10th Grades: Simple Steps for Starting Strong to help me stay focused on the start of high school.

Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School was a book I read early on.

After reading it, I designed a framework and understood that the three Rs are the foundation of any well-laid out high school course.

Look where I share the nitty gritty of that here in my post Homeschool High School The Must Cover Subjects Part 1 and Homeschool High School The Must Cover Subjects Part 2.

Two/ Also, I wished I would have used middle school to help my first high school teen explore more subjects he wanted to.

With my second high school son, I was prepared to let him explore more elective type courses in middle school and getting some of the basic math out of the way.

Middle school gives a budding teen time to explore subjects he is interested in. Take advantage of this time to have some fun.

Three/ Something else I didn’t learn until later was to explore more career options and not just focus on academics. After all, your kid is not attending college for life. It’s preparation for life and a career. (well hopefully).

Careers matter and high school is the time to explore careers.

Reading Career Exploration: for homeschool high school students and What Color Is Your Parachute? for Teens, Third Edition: Discover Yourself, Design Your Future, and Plan for Your Dream Job are two books that are real helpful for your teen to go through.

EXPLORING HIGH SCHOOL COURSES

Something else I didn’t appreciate with my first high school teen is the power to be flexible with courses and course descriptions.

I couldn’t think past simply putting English, Math or Science on my first transcript.

Looking back, I know when preparing transcripts that you want to follow some traditional guidelines and keep general course names on the transcript. So those general descriptions were correct.

However, I need to describe the courses specifically.

Just to illustrate, I put Performing Arts on my first two boys’ transcript.

My older two boys took ballroom dancing, but Performing Arts is the general description to put on the transcript.

I had to come up with a description of ballroom dancing.

I started by looking first at the website where my boys took lessons to give me an idea of how to word what they learned.

I put this:

This beginner course is an introduction to the fundamentals of basic dance. In each dance class, students will be expected to participate in warm-ups and learn the techniques of the Waltz and other traditional dances like the Mambo, Salsa and Swing. Along with learning choreography and dance history, this course culminates in a Spring concert performance.

It wasn’t bad for my first description, but like anything that is a first, it wasn’t exactly comprehensive or correct in a sense.

Since then, I learned that I needed to add my grading scale, what books we used, and how I was going to assign credit.

It’s harder to go back and add these things later, but not impossible.

The bottom line is to keep the course name on the transcript general and make your course descriptive detailed on a separate page to produce it if needed.

EASILY WRITING COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Arranging wording to describe your teen course takes practice, but look at these places to help you.

An obvious place to is the website where you purchased the curriculum. I find the descriptions super helpful in my course descriptions.
I also look at high school course names and descriptions on public school websites. I look for course descriptions similar to the courses that my sons will be doing. This usually gives me some wording
Another place I’ve found descriptions in a nutshell is on Amazon. Amazon is great for giving book descriptions and with a few tweaks of adding how I assign credits and grades, a book description can easily turn course description.
Too, when I didn’t feel like I got a good overview of a course because some descriptions lacked, I would glance at the table of contents to help me word the description of the course.

HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT CONUNDRUM

It can be overwhelming for even the most organized teen and parent when understanding credits, but I like to keep things simple.

It’s been my experience that some families assign a 30 minute class the equal of a 45 minute class because of the intensity of homeschooling and give the student one credit for a rigorous course like literature or math.

You decide how to gauge your credits and the work ethic of your student.

In addition, you decide to give credit if a curriculum is 70% or 80% complete. Some homeschoolers give credit if it’s 80% complete, others less.

Look at my detailed post here for Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School. It gives a detailed explanation for credits.

Also, I have free forms and show you how to expand the use of a transcript here at my detailed post Homeschool High School Transcripts – Anything But Typical.

You and I know that there is no one right to plan high school. But breaking high school down into manageable chunks keeps the process from being overwhelming.

Begin with a framework of the three Rs in high school, fold in accurate course descriptions as you can, be flexible, keep reading about how to grade and assign credit.

Before you know it, you’ll be a pro for your child – which is what really matters.

You will also love my other tips I have for homeschooling high school below:

Hugs and love ya. You got this!

What You Must Know to Teach High School Unit Studies

August 22, 2017 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Until my sons reached high school, I didn’t know if my unit study approach would meld with tracking credits and courses. Also, there didn’t really seem an abundance of prepared high school unit studies. Between determining if unit studies were a good fit for high school and understanding record keeping, it was a lot to wrap my mind around.

Sorting out myths from truth, I hope these 3 tips will help you to easily homeschool high school with unit studies. Or at least give you a beginning place.

ONE/ Understand first that high school is just a continuation of the lowers grades – really!

Yes, it’s true that you’ll need to track credits and courses, but before stressing out about them, plan high school subjects like you’ve done in the lower grades.

That’s right. Begin with what you know.

In my article How to Choose the BEST Homeschool Lesson Planning Pages for THIS Year, I not only give you tips on how to do that, but each lesson plan form lists subjects by general categories; math, language arts, science, history and electives are the framework of well-rounded out high school courses.

It’s not hard to plan when you understand that you’re covering the same basic subjects albeit in more depth analyzing views instead of just a question answer format like your child did in younger grades.

TWO/ Next, I learned to look for two-fer resources.

A two-fer resource is another secret tip to homeschooling teens. Using a resource which teaches two subjects is vital when your child enters high school.

You don’t want your time wasted and neither do teens. More important though is the reason that unit studies rocked in the younger grades is the same reason which holds true for high school. Learning makes more sense when subjects are tied together instead of studied as separate subjects. Additionally, unit studies have always been a research-based approach. This is a skill which is needed on into adulthood.

Resist giving up your unit study approach because it may require a bit more time to put together. Sure, it’s easy to assign a text book and move on, but you and I know that high school is just hard sometimes. It’s a challenge to plan but still doable.

Begin again with something you know. Look at these things you may already know how and are doing with your kids in the younger grades.

Reading history living books and having your child choose writing topics based on history.
Reading science living books and choosing writing topics based on science.
Reading math living books and having your child choose writing topics based on math.

How to Put Together High School Unit Studies

Now that you understand that high school courses fall into general categories and understand to look for two-fer resources, here are some examples of how to put it together.

We love the book Undaunted Courage.

Just a side note here. When I look at a book which can serve as a springboard for high school unit studies, I note 3 things:

that it’s a living book,
that it’s high school level so that I can legally note on my high school transcript that it’s a high school level resource,
and I mull over how hard it will be to add external resources to enrich the study.

Not only is your teen covering part of his credit toward history when reading Undaunted Courage , but he is covering credits for literature too. Writing is part of a literature credit. So your teen is covering 2–3 subjects at once depending on what credits you’ve lined out for the year.

Because covering literature in high school means more than just reading, you’ll want to have a variety of resources for analyzing literature and for guiding your teen how to write well.

A literature-based unit study which has a history setting has been the easiest to start off with at the high school level. For example, I find it a challenge to round out a history book with literature analysis than a great book suited for literature analysis. It’s been easier to add history and science of a time period to a great read.

One super helpful resource we only discovered this year and that is the Thrift Study Editions by Dover. Not only are the books for high school level, but each one comes with a study guide in the back. For example, while reading A Tale of Two Cities, we studied about the culture of France and England and learned about the issues of the French Revolution.

With a resource like that, doing unit studies are a cinch at the high school level. This brings me to the third point you want to know.

THREE/ Fill your teacher nook with specialized how-two books for you and your teen.

Tackling how to teach a subject with out a curriculum can be daunting, but you can go from research to reward if you choose specialized teaching books.

Here are a few of my favorite resources. You don’t need all of them, but I’ve used them at one time or another to round out our unit studies.

The Design-A-Study series are timeless. This series of books about science, history, and composition gives an overview of what to cover in each grade. Instead of giving you subjects, it’s helpful because it gives you the big picture of what your child needs to know from K-12. A resource like this is especially helpful if you want to cover a skill or topic that your highschooler may have struggled with in the earlier grades.
Warriner’s English Complete Course. This set of books have been around for years and helps to hone writing. Christine Miller of Classical Christian said, “This excellent reference can be used throughout all three years of the dialectic to teach writing. It thoroughly covers grammar in detail, which provides a nice review for those children that need it, or for those children that missed some grammar instruction in the grammar stage. It also covers writing in detail, with a complete section on writing mechanics, usage, writing correct and clear sentences, paragraphs, and papers, the research paper, using references, and even public speaking.” Read the rest of her review here. Before we started using Rod and Staff high school levels, we used Warriner’s. Rod and Staff’s Communicating Effectively I liked one year because I felt like it was more streamlined. It helps to.understand that I used Rod and Staff in the younger grades and their grammar is very rigorous and by 8th grade formal grammar is completed. When you click the link above you can see the sample of their English and what is covered in the high school years.
Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School. Don’t get overwhelmed by this book. There is no need to have to read all of it. Focus only on the grade level for this year. Having a handy reference like this will guide you to subjects for each grade.

In an upcoming post, I’ll show you how I plan credits now that you can see how easy it is to satisfy two to three subjects using carefully selected resources.

Also, check out Diving into Homeschool Unit Studies: The Dos and Don’ts and 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together and Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School.

Hugs and love ya,

How To Teach Homeschool Art Like a Pro (When You’re Not)

June 29, 2017 | 6 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I was given this product free from Atelier Homeschool Art and I was compensated for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off. ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

Knowing that it requires both skill and creativity to be a successful artist, I’ve spent years looking for a homeschool art curriculum which teaches both concepts. There is a reason I’m using Atelier Homeschool Art again this year. It teaches both concepts easily to a novice student and teacher.

Atelier Homeschool Art is video-based teaching. So it not only frees up my time to teach, but it also gives me teaching tips in the parent/teacher’s manual.

I like to be selectively controlling when teaching art. What I mean is that at certain times, I want to learn alongside my son while teaching him. Other times, when I have minimal to no teacher prep time, I want art lessons laid out so that it’s pick up and go.

Before I go on I just have to let you know one important thing and that is you don’t want to miss the SWEET surprise at the end of this post!

Kids Art Lessons

Teaching homeschool art use to be a subject that intimidated me.

(Creative expression can be learned by following a model.)

When I first started homeschooling, I was lopsided in my teaching. I was overly focused on skill subjects or the three Rs. Little did I understand that art feeds a child’s mind and that a creative imagination is the beginning to a lifelong love of learning anything.

Let me back up though because I want you to understand how Atelier Homeschool Art is laid out.

Look at these quick facts about how Atelier Homeschool Art makes it easy for me to teach art.

They offer 8 levels and because the levels overlap several ages it gives me more wiggle room when I had to choose a skill level.
The subscription is a full year of visual art lessons which you get for 3 years. More on that in a minute. However, there is no need to plan when lessons are ready for the year.
It is also a family subscription. I wouldn’t be wrong in saying you could use it for all of your kids but the subscription allows you to learn art too. It’s not just for multiple ages of children, but mom and dad can join in on the fun because the program is not baby-ish. The teaching and material are top-notch produced.
Not only is the art program offered online, but the DVD program is the same content. Let’s face it. There are still some places that don’t have a fast internet connection and there is no need to have to settle for mediocre art curriculum. I do love that Tiny can use his iPad and then I can look at his lessons on my laptop.
Another super help to me is that they offer art kits for just about 80% of the lessons. No need to guess which products you need. However, I also like the fact that prior to each lesson you are given a list for supplies. Why is this important to me? In teaching children to be independent, they need to receive proper instruction. If we don’t have art supplies in the house for the next lesson, Tiny needs to review ahead to let me know what supplies he needs. Yes, I love that Atelier Homeschool Art teaches independence even in art study. It’s Tiny job to gather his supplies and be ready for the next art lesson.
I mentioned that art is about having skill and creativity. Some kids have natural talent in that area and some need a model to follow. Either way, those skills can be taught or reinforced which is why the scope and sequence is important to me. We are working on Level 8 this year and look at what we’re learning. Students will build and develop a foundation of skills by learning and working through the essential elements and principles of art including: line, color, space, shape, texture, pattern, and balance. Level 8 also includes art-history, media exploration, creative self-expression, cultural appreciation, and much more.
It is a well-rounded art curriculum and allows plenty of time for free expression.

Then something else that really helped me as a beginner when teaching art is learning insider’s tips and tricks of the trade. I left the penciled grid lines on the beautiful art above that Tiny did while learning about Michelangelo. I wanted you to see that trick. Not only did he learn art history but he learned pro tips like making a grid line on his page when doing really larger pieces of art. It may seem like a small thing if you’re experienced at art, but if you’re like me, you appreciate all the seemingly insignificant, but important pro tips. Too, it makes Tiny really proud of his work instead of ending up with a small scale picture that he worked so hard on, but that only takes up about 1/4 of the page.

It helps us to look at art through the eyes of an artist. Tiny tends to be more like me in expecting perfection of himself. Sad, but true that the kid got that quality from me. This means we need more encouragement to let go of that expectation, but we still want to have guidance and drawing aids. That is another huge benefit of each lesson. Not only are teacher instructions included, but drawing aids are made available for download. We also appreciated the visuals used in each class as the art instructor explains what she sees in concrete objects. Again, helping us to see art through her eyes.
Although I mentioned the teacher’s guide, it’s important for you to know that not all teacher’s guides are designed equally. I have a high standard for a teacher’s guide and especially for one about a subject that I’m not an expert at teaching. This teacher’s guides exceeds my expectations because of the content and helpful how-tos. The teacher’s guide is 184 pages. It includes background information on how to teach art and how to grade it. It has a scope and sequence along with a glossary of terms and objectives. It is truly comprehensive.

Teaching Art While at the Museum

However, there is one more benefit that really sets this curriculum apart and that is the digital art prints along with the Art Print Guide.

It is already comprehensive but this nifty feature just makes it overflowing with ideas on how to incorporate art into every day life.

Make visiting an art museum come alive when you discuss the series of 10 digital prints. We have started a notebook with these prints and are covering them slowly since the guide has questions (with answers) along with activities to extend learning.

Each print has artist background information along with information about the artwork.

This could easily count as a fine art credit for a middle or high school student or half-credit depending on how comprehensive you want it to be.

Having multiple options when buying is appealing to me.

Included with each family package for the online Great Art Appreciation Program are 10 Great Masters Art Images and the Discussion Guides.

But if you choose the enrichment option, you get at least 90 artworks.

The enriched family package option also includes the Great Masters Virtual Museum. This virtual museum contains at least 90 artworks displayed in 7 galleries, along with discussion guides for each artwork. It is designed for those families who wish to include an enriched art appreciation and art history component with their studio art lessons.

You’ll love getting more tips from my post Homeschool Art (Why Video Based Teaching Rocks), Video Based Homeschool Art (No Teaching Involved) and How to Expose Homeschooled Teens to a Variety of Fine Arts (and Get High School Credit).

Hands-down this is by far the best homeschool art program I’ve used and I’m PROUD that Atelier Homeschool Art is part of our curriculum!

What makes it even more special today though is that they are giving away one winner’s choice of any grade level art curriculum. Don’t think somebody else will win! You want to try for it.

Oh, you’re going to want to enter!

Atelier Homeschool Art Curriculum

How to Purchase It.

►Product Name: Atelier Online – Level 8 (ages 12-16) Levels 1 through 8 are available, which can be used for ages 4 to 16.
►Website: Atelier Homeschool Art
►Try it for Free: Click here for free sample lessons.
►About the product: All Atelier art lessons are presented on video, and reinforced by lesson plans. Not only are the videos a rich source of creative ideas and inspiration, it also clarifies the objectives, materials, techniques and procedures of each lesson. Abundant instructional coverage, as well as that of students in a virtual art class performing the lesson and displaying their finished artwork, consistently produces exceptional student results and learning, regardless of the art background of the parent-teacher.
►Formats: This program is not only available online, but the same materials can be purchased in dvd format too.
►Type of product: Online video-based.
►Art Supply Kits: We had many of these art materials, but did have to purchase some of them. If you’re like me and want things easily laid out, then you may like the Atelier Art Supply Kit which includes approximately 80% of the supplies needed for a complete level.
►Price: 140.00 for each grade level BUT that is for 3 years. Did you think I would forget to tell you about this? Why is it for 3 years? Because Atelier Homeschool Art knows that to truly master skills it takes years.

So to find the true cost. Divide 140.00 by 36 months (3 years) and that equals $3.88 per month. What a value for beautiful art curriculum.

Like I mentioned before, each lesson has drawing aids. Last year, Tiny picked one drawing aid to work on one skill and this year Tiny chose a completely different drawing aid. However, he is still working on improving the same concept in align with his maturity level.

But if you have a stricter budget that you need to stay in, you’ll love their newest option to buy. You can buy just individual modules.

► or Price: $44.00 for each module. The online levels are divided into 4 Modules, which are A,B, C and D. You can purchase one or more modules. Each contains 5 lessons.

Hugs and love ya,

high school electives

Don’t forget to join my private facebook group for great support!

A to Z List: Middle and High School Homeschool Electives

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

High School Elective Ideas

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Moving Past the Four-Year Homeschool High School Plan

Can Homeschoolers Graduate Early?

3 POINTERS: HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM AND COURSES

EXPLORING HIGH SCHOOL COURSES

EASILY WRITING COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT CONUNDRUM

How to Put Together High School Unit Studies

Kids Art Lessons

Teaching Art While at the Museum

Oh, you’re going to want to enter!

How to Purchase It.

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