Like Physical Education, few states have requirements for Art. That does not mean art should not be an integral part of your child’s education.
One of my favorite homeschool guides “What Your ___ Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, has a chapter on what your homeschooler should cover in applied art and art history each year. This is a good place to start. There are also numerous Art curriculums that you will find in the Homeschool Curriculum Glossary. Meanwhile, I want to give you some ideas of showing that your child has met his or her Art requirements (whether or not they are really required).
Art Portfolio: Every Year, take your child’s best artwork and put it in a professional leather portfolio in the order the work was completed. This progression of work will demonstrate artistic growth, and the work done in the latter years, may lend to a real professional art portfolio. Such a portfolio can gain admission into an art college, or even an art related job.
Scrapbook: To show art appreciation, remember to take pictures of your children at every museum visit. Put this as well as pictures of any three-dimensional work your child has done into a scrapbook. Your scrapbook can be digital if you wish. I have video footage taken from my cell phone of my children critiquing art in a museum. In addition to it being cute, it demonstrates that they are familiar with art vocabulary and nuances at an early age.
Website: You can combine your children’s art portfolio and scrapbook into a website. It is easy to transfer this information to a make-it-yourself website that can be shown to anyone at any time.
One of the reasons you do not want to forget covering art in your homeschool curriculum, is that if your child is artistically inclined, you do not want to miss nurturing, or even discovering that part of their personality. Also, depending on the college your child plans to attend, showing a love for art will prove your child is culturally aware and help in acceptance consideration.
*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.
*Want to know more about homeschooling? Start with the 2006 homeschool blog in review!
* Have you seen the homeschooling curriculum glossary?