This is part of a five day series on how to homeschool Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade students. Today I am giving you a glimpse into how I teach Fine Arts. Here is how we teach fine arts (music, famous artists, art appreciation, dance, etc) in our homeschool.
Fine Arts Curriculum in our Home School
Music Curriculum in our Homeschool
Learning to Play the Piano
Beginning in 1st/2nd grade (depending on when the child is ready) I start teaching piano. I teach piano and theory at the same time starting with these books:
The books have proved to be excellent teaching tools for us. They take children from no musical knowledge to being able to start reading music and playing basic piano pieces quite quickly. I think the three books should all be purchased as they work well in tandem – Lesson Book, Theory Book, and Recital Book.
I give weekly lessons where I listen to everything he has been practicing all week. I correct any mistakes and ensure that he is using good posture and counting his notes correctly. I also review the theory work he’s done. Then I assign the next 2 pages from each book for the following week and we play through them together. My 2nd grader practices piano every weekday at 8am.
Introduction to Music Theory and Appreciation
I used different elements from my FREE Music Lapbook and Music Worksheets to help teach my kids about musical notes, rhythm, instruments, and music appreciation. It also includes free flashcard which are helpful for kids to get quicker at identifying the correct note which is really beneficial for children learning to play an instrument.
I taught this as a unit to all my children spending about 30 minutes a week for several weeks. I revisit the lapbook annually to reinforce it and to teach kids who have gotten older and are now ready for different elements.
Studying Famous Music Composers
For children Preschool – 2nd Grade I highly recommend the series Color the Classics. This is a gentle introduction that will help your children hear and learn about famous composers from the time they are young in a creative, age appropriate method.
One day a week we spend 30 minutes learning about and appreciating some wonderful classic music in our homeschool. I start by reading a paragraph or two describing a part of a famous composers life. Then my kids get to color a picture depicting what I just read as they listen to several famous songs from that composer. It is a wonderful kinesthetic approach that has been really fun and memorable in our homeschool.
See how we study about famous composers in our home school:
Studying Great Artists
I grew up in Spain where our backyard included many amazing art museums, palaces, and cathedrals filled with amazing art work. Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t always appreciate that as a kid, but my Dad loved art and took us to see all these treasures and took the time to explain about art. Because of this, I appreciate art and want my kids to appreciate great artists as well.
Child Size Masterpieces – Famous Artist Study for Preschool, Kindergarten, and beyond
Starting when my kids were in preschool or Kindergarten I started using Childsize Masterpieces to help them learn and become familiar with great works of art. The series uses memory type games to help kids “play” with famous art. As your child continues in the series they will learn to identify artwork by the same artist, identify masterpieces and their artist, and more. The high quality postcard prints of famous pieces of art alone is worth the minimal cost.
We played games with the famous painting postcards once a week for 30 minutes.
Discovering Famous Artist Study for Homeschoolers
Beginning in Kindergarten, I pick 4 famous artists a year for our entire family to study in depth. We use the books (or videos if available) from the series Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists form Mike Venezia – this is a wonderful series that explains the life of the artist, shares several of their works of art, and does so in a fun way kids of all ages enjoy. Discovering Great Artists by Mary Ann Kohl has fantastic ideas for helping kids try making art in the style of the famous artists we are studying.
Here are the studies we’ve done so far:
- Seurat – Discovering Pointillism through Melted Crayon Art
- Monet – Tissue Paper Water Lilies
- Picasso – Self Portraits a la Picasso – Yikes!
- Jackson Polluck – Modern Art Fun for Kids
- Rembrandt – coming soon
- Mary Cassatt – Coming Soon
- El Greco – coming soon
Creating Art
We do lots of art projects (many seasonal) to let my kids explore with their senses and learn to express themselves through authentic art.
- Aztec Clay Art
- Melted Crayon Artwork
- 4 Seasons Pointillism Style Hand Art
- Painting with Flowers
- Snowman Keepsake Handprint Ornament
- Dr. Seuss Inspired Canvas Art – Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3 Hand Art
Dance
Dance is another area of fine arts. My daughter love ballet, has since she was little. So until her interests change, she is taking ballet. I never took dance growing up, but I am always excited to let my kids try something they are interested in and explore something new!
Want to know how we teach other subjects? Don’t miss my complete series >> Homeschooling Preschool – 2nd Grade: This is How I Teach << which is part of collaborative hopscotch from iHomeschool Network.
How do YOU Teach Fine Arts in your Homeschool?
Music for Kids
Looking for more fun and free printables and resources to learn to read music? Try these:
- FREE Music Theory Worksheets for kids , Introduction to Music Booklet to read, color, and learn, and reading music for kids worksheets, 100 page of free orchestra for kids worksheets
- Woodwind Musical Instrument Coloring Pages, fun Brass instruments pictures, free string musical instrument sheets, percussion instruments for kids, and organ / piano coloring pages
- Simple music instrument coloring pages or these cute instrument colouring pages
- Musical Instrument Flash Cards, printable Music Flash cards and Free Music Notes Chart
- Super cute Piano practice sheets and free printable piano flash cards
- Spot the Different Instrument Families Worksheets
- Fun and FREE Intro Music Worksheets and musical instruments pictures with names worksheets
- Composers: Richard Wagner for kids, famous mozart for kids, free Handel for Kids, interesting Beethoven for kids, free bach for kids mini book, and Tchaikovsky for kids
- Music Listening Worksheets – great for working on music appreciation
- Musical Instrument Worksheets for preschool and kindergarten
- 40+ Music Crafts including musical instruments and activities, Learning Notes on the Staff Game with water balloons, Paper Plate Tambourine craft, spoon maracas craft, nature preschool music activities, DIY Water xylophone
- Music color by number or Musical Instruments Worksheets pdf for kids to learn math and literacy skills
- Create music instruments with free printable playdough mats with this preschool music activity or try a whole music theme preschool
Crafts Ideas for Kids
Looking for more craft projects for kids? Check out these fun ideas!
- Paper Roll Bunny Craft, gorgoue turkey craft, clever spider craftivity, puffy paint pumpkin crafts, stunning corn art projects, yarn wrapped leaf crafts for preschoolers, paper plate apple crafts, mixed medium apple art preschool, gorgeous pasta butterfly craft, or fun puffy paint ice cream craft
- 100 Amazing Zoo Animal Crafts, lots of cute preschool apple crafts, and easy tin foil art projects are fun-to-make and so pretty!
- Fish craft template, Elephant Craft Bookmark, Painted Flower Craft Preschool, or Creative Pipe Cleaner Crafts kids will want to make, rocket space craft for kids
- Stunning Tissue Paper Rainbow Craft, name craft template for camping crafts for preschoolers
- Bubble Wrap Painting Rain Craft, cute sun craft preschool, outrageously Cute Googly Eye Crafts
- Tissue Paper Butterfly Suncatcher Craft, Star Wars Crafts that are from a galaxy far, far away, Super cute Thing 1 and Thing 2 Craft
- Must-try Popsicle Stick Crafts, Over 100 Fun Spring Crafts for Kids, fun Spin Art Flower Craft for Kids
- Spectacular tissue paper fireworks craft, shaving cream butterfly craft, pretty pasta flowers,
- This Monet art project for kids is a fun way to introduce famous artists for kids with a stunning project!
- Lovely Coffee Filter Crafts for kids, check out these toilet paper roll crafts, try these paper plate crafts for all occasions
- Beautiful leaf crafts for preschoolers, clever Fall Crafts for Kids, silly Monster Crafts for kids of all ages
- Cute Handprint Alphabet Crafts, Letter Crafts sorted A-Z, or free printable alphabet crafts
- Hyacinth flower spring crafts, pasta mosaic art, st patricks day art with free template, Dr Seuss thing 1 and thing 2 handprint craft
- Fork paintd snowy owl craft, bubble wrap umbrella craft preschool, wreath printable easter crafts, or turkey hat craft
- See craft ideas by month
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