Art history can be a tricky subject to teach in homeschool, especially if you didn’t have exposure to it as a kid. My 6-year-old and 11-year-old had the opportunity to learn about famous artists and try some of their techniques while guided by the HiGASFY Art History Video Series.
Mrs. Beth tells engaging stories that bring the history of famous artists and their paintings to life. It is ideal for young kids because her drop of paint side-kick Gasfy gives a lighthearted addition to the course.
Mrs. Beth has a great online presence that kept my first grader interested. My sixth grader also asked to watched the HiGASFY videos each week.
We spent our time with this program studying the Impressionist period and particularly Monet.
We started each lesson by watching the video first.
I was impressed with how Mrs. Beth was able to communicate such detailed concepts about the time period, art styles, and personalities of the artists in an interesting way – but also in a way that even my youngest could understand.
After my kids watched the art history video, I checked out the lesson plans to see if there were any activities we could do.
Some of the activities were reviews of the material from the video. You can print them out or just use them right on the computer, like the activity sheet shown below.
Other activities suggested drawing like the artist we just learned about. Here is my first grader’s still life of peaches in a wood bowl.
And her still life of flowers from the yard.
I can’t remember if this was a suggested activity or not, but my youngest insisted that she try to create a portrait like the one from the lesson! Here is her drawing in mid-stroke.
The lesson plans in the curriculum bundle clearly explain what your children will learn. There are multiple activities suggested, and this curriculum is flexible enough for you to do them all or none at all. Your kids will learn a lot just by watching the videos alone!
After watching the video for lesson 4, my 6-year-old wanted to do the suggested activity of finger painting to copy a Monet painting. She had a blast!
What you get with HiGASFY
The online format makes this curriculum accessible to busy homeschool moms, and especially those families with multiple kids.
The four art eras that are available right now are:
- Renaissance
- Baroque
- Impressionist
- Post-Impressionist
Your purchase includes a downloadable curriculum bundle that gives ideas for extending the learning beyond art history. There are activities in geography, science, history, and vocabulary that you can use with your kids.
The program includes a powerpoint game that can be used at the end of their study as a final assessment of the student’s retention.
You can use this curriculum simply by having your kids watch the engaging videos. They will certainly learn a lot this way. I was surprised how much my 6-year-old remembered! After she completed a video, she narrated back to me what she had learned.
Or, you can use the activities in the curriculum bundle to extend your children’s learning.
Check out HiGASFY’s Pinterest page and YouTube channel to see their FREE resources. They have “How to Draw” videos on their channel that you could try!
You can also read more reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew by clicking the graphic below and see how other families used this resource to teach art history in their homeschool.
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