Handicrafts and Art instruction is something we have lacked in our first year of homeschooling! I am trying to plan to do some handicrafts this summer so we will have more time and less distraction. Would doing one art instruction and one handicraft at the same time be too much or is it one ore the other per term? Looking at maybe using Creating A Master Piece! Is this too advanced for a second grader?
I’m sure there are many ways you could arrange it. My DC love art, so I aim for both a handicraft and art lesson each week…not that we always get to both! I also schedule a short drawing lesson each week (using Write and Draw Through History or other drawing book) as well as their nature notebook entry. Some weeks our “handicraft” is learning how to do a new chore and other weeks we have a fun project. If it’s been a very busy week, we might focus on landry-folding or bathroom cleaning for our handicraft. More ongoing projects (like sculpting or latch hooking) are done in their free time.
If you don’t have time for both, I think it would be fine to alternate each term. Last year I had scheduled an art technique to focus on each term, but we were really bad at getting to it. This spring we’ve been doing much better at getting to the extras, so I may schedule the same art books for next year. I haven’t used Creating a Masterpiece, so I’m not sure of the ages.
Thank you Holly! Bumping this back up to get more responses! We seem to be pushing out the very things that I love about Charlotte Mason and what drew me to this method in the first place just to fit in the MUST haves! I really am trying to get back to that place again!
We’ve been watching children of all ages creating their own masterpieces at the Creating a Masterpiece booth at the various conventions. The results have been great! (You can see photos on our Facebook page.) Your second grader should be able to do Level 1 DVDs with no problem. You might start with pastels; they seem to be easiest.
I don’t think Creating a Masterpiece would be too much, either. They have recently released some new DVDs and reorganized their levels; I bought the new Level 1 set, and am so excited!
My boys are just turned 5 and almost 7, and the three of us finished The Turtle a couple weeks ago. All of them are very different, but we all had a great time. I think we are going to try either Peaceful Lake (pastels) or Tropical Clown Fish (colored pencil) next.
Also. I really like how Sharon has set up shopping lists with Dick Blick.com; no guessing at the right materials. 🙂
We do Artistic Pursuits and the kids are really enjoying it. We done one lesson/week. They are creating really fun art with drawing, clay, paper. I like that they get to use a variety of methods, not just paper and pencil and it is about them creating their own art, not copying what someone else made. It has been a really fun year!
We are also starting to do other projects like crocheting and practicing needle work (with plastic canvis) and finger knitting.
Thank you! I saw there booth while at the convention and thought everything looked beautiful and well put together. It might be easier for me to start with something like this and he can do more formal art lessons when he’s ready!
I will have to look into the artistic pursuits as well! Looking for a good resource for buying materials as well. I went to Micheals to look at supplies and didn’t find anything for children pertaining to crocheting or finger knitting!
caycecronk try pinterest for the finger knitting(or you could probably just do a google search) and try ravelry.com for knitting(this site is amazing for knitting and crocheting)you can just search for what you are wanting.
We purchased our supplies through Blick Artistic Pursuits has packages so you have everything. It was enough for 2 kids and everything but the clay can be used for multiple years, next year I will not need to purchase nearly as many supplies.
If your kids like finger knitting a lot, you might then look for one of those plastic knitting looms at a yard sale or ask for one on a freecycle board. I’ve seen sets of these at places like Walmart, and I actually got the round set (has 3 or 4 sizes of looms) for my daughter a few years back. It’s just like finger knitting because the little pegs that stick up around the loom are just like using your fingers….only it has many more “fingers” and goes around to meet itself instead of ending with the last finger.
They only cost about $10 or $12, but I resist spending that kind of money for a piece of plastic, so I look for such things at yard sales & rummage sales.