ARTistic Pursuits Review

A favorite things to do at our house has always been art.  I have always struggled with what to do for art though.  I can put together a cute craft or project, but usually it’s just for fun- which is great- but sometimes I want a bit more educational value to go along with the activity we are doing.  Fortunately, Hailey takes an art class at our homeschool co-op, so I know she is getting some good art instruction.  But, I wanted to do something for her at home too- an art curriculum that I could easily implement- so I was really excited at the opportunity to review Early Elementary K-3, Book 2: Stories of Artists and Their Art from ARTistic Pursuits.

Stories of Artists and Their Art is a part of a homeschool art curriculum from ARTistic Pursuits.  There are books in the curriculum that come before this one, but you can start with this book if you want to.  This book focuses on the lives of artists from within the 13th century to the 18th century. Some of the artists included in Stories of Artists and Their Art are Giotto, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Turner.  In Stories of Artists and Their Art, there are stories written about the artists, written perfectly for children to enjoy and understand, and then there are art activities that relate to the artist your child is learning about.  Stories of Artists and Their Art is paperback and has a comb binding, includes 36 lessons (85 pages) and is $47.95. This particular book is for kindergarten through 3rd grade, but there are other art curriculum products for other ages available at ARTistic Pursuits.   In addition to purchasing the book, you will also need to purchase art supplies to complete the projects in the book.   You can order supplies directly from ARTistic Pursuits or you can purchase them on your own.

So, what did we think of Stories of Artists and Their Art?

Here is a sampling of some of the lessons we did:

Lesson 1 was about Cimabue.  First we read about Cimabue, what it was like when he was born and how he became an artist.  Then Hailey completed the project that went along with the story.  She was encouraged to paint a picture of a building in our neighborhood.

She set up her painting area like the book recommended doing.  There are also tips offered in the book- for example it suggested using your paint brush to drop a couple drops of water into the water colors to soften up the paint before starting.  This was a super helpful tip and made painting with water colors even easier.

Hailey decided to paint a picture of our neighbor’s house- this is her completed picture.

The next lesson we did was also about Cimabue and how some craftsmen stamped patterns into a gold surface by making indentations into the gold.

We used gold colored paper to represent the real gold for this activity.  Hailey had to cut the paper into the shape she wanted and then glue it on the paper.

Hailey’s completed artwork.

In lesson 3 we learned about Giotto and how he used rocks to scratch pictures onto large flat stones when he was a child.  He later worked as an apprentice for Cimabue and became a master painter as well.

For the next activity, Hailey used oil pastels to carefully color a piece of cardstock.  She used lots of colors and made it look very pretty.  When she finished coloring it, she colored over the entire picture with a black oil pastel.  This whole process took several days, but she had a great time.

When she finished, she used a paperclip to scratch the black off and create a picture.  This part was a bit messy- but it is art after all 😉  She loved the project and is very proud of her artwork hanging in our classroom.

One other lesson we completed was also about Giotto and how he used to do fresco painting- which is when the paint is applied to wet plaster.

Hailey spread plaster onto a piece of cardboard.

Hailey drew a picture using pencil onto the plaster of what she wanted to paint.

Then she used water colors to paint her picture.

I made a plaster surface for Hunter too, because he likes to be included in what we do- so here he is painting his plaster.

ARTistic pursuits is very clearly laid out- a short and simple story about an artist, followed by a fun project for the child to complete.  It is very easy to use and the activities are simple while educational.

Here is what it boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey loved it!  She listened to the stories- they kept her attention and she loved the projects.
It’s not just a project for the sake of doing art- there is real educational value behind the lessons.
It is easily adaptable for a variety of ages.

Cons:
Some of the art supplies that are recommend are a bit pricey.  But, that is easily fixed by purchasing generic supplies rather than the suggested name brand materials.

Overall, I would recommend ARTistic Pursuits.  We really enjoyed this homeschool art curriculum, we both learned a lot, and I plan to continue using it.

Want to see more of ARTistic Pursuits?  You can also check them out on Facebook.

Expedition Earth- Germany

We are moving along in our Expedition Earth study.  We only have a few countries left before we head to Disney World and “visit” the countries in Epcot that we have learned about while doing Expedition Earth.

This week we learned all about Germany.

Hailey colored the flag.

We learned about and looked at pictures of the many castles in Germany.  Then Hailey built her own castle.

Hailey ate a pretzel.

She read about Germany.

A definite favorite activity was eating some Nutella.

We wrapped up the week with a German meal.  I made bratwurst, potato pancakes and sauerkraut.  The sauerkraut was not a hit hahaha, but we liked everything else.

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Expedition Earth- Italy

Our latest adventure in Expedition Earth was our trip to Italy.

Of course, we read several books (we just looked through some of them, they are all pretty long) about Italy.

Hailey stamped her passport (and I am obviously a few weeks behind in my posting).

We learned about Roman Numerals.  Hailey wanted me to test her and see if she could get them all correct- which she did.

We talked about Mt. Vesuvius and watched some Youtube videos of volcanos.  Then, of course, we had to make our own volcano.  Hailey was obviously more impressed than Hunter.

Hailey built her own version of the Roman Colosseum.

We learned about Michelangelo, and watched a BrainPop show about him.  Then, I taped paper under Hunter’s table so that Hailey and Hunter could pretend to be Michelangelo.

Of course, we ended our study of Italy by going out for some Italian food.  Yummy!

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CTC Math Review

I have always loved math. It always came very easy to me and I found it to be fun. I loved having math homework to do every night.  It’s always been hard for me to understand why anyone would not like math.  So, of course- Hailey has never been very fond of math. She was in public school for 2 years and math was definitely not her favorite subject.  This year, her first year being homeschooled, math has definitely not been her favorite subject. So, I wondered- does she just hate math? Or, is it the curriculum we are using?  Surely she can’t really hate math.  I have been researching math curriculum for the last few months, talking to other homeschool moms about the math curriculum they use, and just trying to decide what to do about math.  Just stick with what we’re using or change things up??  So, when we had the chance to review CTC Math, I was really hopeful that it would help Hailey with her math struggles.  We were given the 12 Month Family Plan to review.

CTC Math is an entirely online math program, so I would recommend having a reliable internet connection to use this program.  You can purchase a membership monthly, every 6 months, or yearly- whatever would work best for you.  Right now, you can get a huge savings of 60% off the regular price!  For a family plan, including 2 or more children, you can purchase a yearly membership for $118.80 (normally $297).  Yearly membership for only one student is $78.80 (normally $197).  

When you sign up for a membership you are given access to all grade levels (Kindergarten- 12th grade) and all lessons for each grade level.  For each grade level (or course) there are several “streams.”  For example, in Kindergarten through sixth grade the streams include:

• Numbers, Patterns and Algebra
• Measurement
• Space and Geometry
• Statistics and Probabilty

From those streams you can pick one and click on it.  Then you will find the topics within those streams.  Once you have picked a topic for your child to work on, your child will listen to the lesson about the topic.  After the lesson is over your child will work on some practice questions.  There are also practice speed drills, that vary in difficulty level to help your child practice his or her math facts.

Each week the parent receives a weekly activity log (by email) that looks like the picture above.  It will tell you when your child logged in and what he or she did.  The overall performance section will tell you how many lessons were completed and what the overall score was of the questions your child answered.

So, what did we think of CTC Math?

Before we started reviewing CTC Math, Hailey had been working on 3 digit addition and subtraction.  When we would work on her math problems together she did great.  But, as soon as I had her do it on her own, she couldn’t do it.  So, I had her start with the addition and subtraction lessons.  I loved that I could use any grade level because she needed practice with 4th grade addition and 3rd grade subtraction.  I had her watch the lessons- they are each only a few minutes long and are very easy to understand.  If she didn’t understand something we could easily go back and watch it again.   Then she did the practice math questions.

I really liked how she could cross numbers out to borrow from when subtracting, and to carry numbers when necessary while adding.  She didn’t need to do it on paper, she was able to do everything right on the computer.  She really loved that!

I had her answer the questions for addition for several days because she really needed the practice, then she did the same for subtraction.  She did great using CTC Math and usually got all of the problems correct, only missing a problem once in a while.

Since I see Hailey still counting on her fingers from time to time, I also had her use the speed skills practice.  In just a weeks times I could see a huge improvement in how fast she completed her math facts.  I even used the speed skills to see if I was getting rusty on my math facts.  In the level 4 group of speed skills there is an “Order of Operations” option, which I definitely needed some practice with 🙂

Here is what is boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey loved it!  If there was a day we didn’t use CTC Math, she was asking for it.  This is the biggest plus for me- she actually enjoyed using this online math program.
The lessons were short and kept Hailey’s attention.
I saw a big improvement in Hailey’s speed skills as well as her understanding of the topics we covered.
I loved that I could use any grade level.

Cons:
When Hailey would get a problem wrong, I wish the program would have explained to her right then what she did wrong and how to do it correctly.

Overall- I would recommend this math program and we definitely intend to continue using it!  Using CTC Math has confirmed for me that we need to make a change in the curriculum we have been using this school year.

Want to see more of CTC Math?  You can also check them out on Facebook.